Future Problems Today: Redux
by JohnDowe
Summary: Washington and Carolina had always been good friends, but when a strange girl arrives with a more questions then answers and asking for their help, it just might change their fates forever. The fate of their future and hers. This is a reboot, remake and improved story of the original "Future Problems Today". Please Comment on what you think compared to the original.
1. Chapter 1

**April 23rd 2550 _ Mother of Invention-Cargo Hold _ 1400 hrs Earth Time**

The Cargo Hold was always a dark and grotesque place to be. So for what ever reason York and Connie were down there even they didn't know. They were just there.

"Alright so what are we here for again?" York asked.

"Why are you asking me? I don't f**king know, I was following you." Connie replied.

"Okay, how could be following me if I'm standing behind you? Answer that for me." They came to a halt where they stood when they felt a disturbance. "Hey do you feel that?"

"Yeah I do." They felt a strange, almost electrical sensation coming from a nearby container. They could feel some Electrical Pulse emitting from the glowing container.

"Oh man I feel weird."

The closer they walked to the container the deeper and stronger the wave passed through. Soon enough they were forced to tear off there helmets and cover their ears from a high pitched sound emitting from the container. The container sent a powerful sonic wave exploding the container wide open and throwing York and Connie into the air. They crashed into some nearby crates with a loud crash.

"F**king Sh*t!"

"Come on lets see what the hell that was."

They drew their Magnums and slowly took carful steps towards the now destroyed container. York made a gesture with his hand signaling Connie to flank from the left side and he would take the right. They took their post and took aim.

"Alright, we may not be cops but we're armed. Now come on out with your hand up."

They heard a coughing from the inside, and a person speak up. A girl, to there surprise in full armor. CGB Armor.

" _cough cough_ -Jezz. Simmons is not going to be happy about this."

"Hey do you mind telling us who you are?" Connie asked.

"Huh, oh uh hi, um this is kinda awkward." The stranger said. From the way she talked, they could tell she was fairly young.

"Yeah for us too." York said. "Come on kid, your coming with us."

"What! I didn't even do anything." The girls tore off her helmet in frustration. York and Connie just stared in shock, the girl standing before them had green eyes. Like a certain Freelancer they knew. "Okay sure maybe I snuck abroad this UNSC cruiser so sue me."

"Yeah kid well your still coming with us." Connie said. "Get your ass moving."

"Okay fine I'm going."

* * *

 **Mother of Invention-Prison Hold _ 1430 hrs Earth Time**

Connie and York just stared in surprise at the young girl in the interrogation room.

"Do you think theres a possibility that she's related to Carolina?" York asked.

"I mean she has the green eyes." Connie responded. "Maybe, but I don't know."

"No. She never said anything about having a sister. She can't be."

"Hey, are you two just gonna stand there or are we gonna talk this out." The girl yelled out.

After much consideration the two agents walked into the room. The girl was handcuffed to the table and Connie and York were standing at the door.

"First question whats your name kid?"

"Aileen Wuornos." The girl answered.

"Aileen. Okay Al, second question, what the hell are you doing here?"

The girl looked away for a moment, trying to remember. She reached to grab her head but was caught by the handcuffs. "Damn. I honestly can't remember."

Connie and York shared a look and went back to the girl.

"Okay kid next question, do you know an Agent Carolina?" York asked. Connie hit him on the shoulder

"Really York? Who the hell knows anyone actually named, _Agent Carolina_?"

"Just wondering."

The girls eyes widened at the name. She went for her wrist trying to grab something but nothing was there. She slammed her fist on the table.

"Damn It! Did any of you see my CommPad?"

"Your what? No we didn't..."

"You said Agent Carolina is here! Is Agent Washington here too?"

"Yeah she is. They both are."

"I need to speak to them both. I need to show them something its an emergency. Its really important I get my CommPad!"

"Look kid, right now your trespassing, we could haul your ass if need be."

"Oh forget this."

The girl broke the cuffs off, pressed a few buttons on her TacPad and she disappeared. She had a Camouflage unit and then broke out of the Interrogation Room.

"Well f**k."

York activated his Comms and walked followed Connie outside. "Hey uh Carolina?"

* * *

 **Mother of Invention-Cargo Hold _ 1500 hrs Earth Time**

"Why the hell did you bring me along again?" Washington asked.

"Because York said there was some sort of Escapee onboard and we need to check it out." She responded.

"Yeah you told me that part, but why the hell am I here?"

"Because... its scary down here."

"What?"

"Shut up."

They heard shuffling and some sort of commotion from the destroyed container. Both Carolina and Washington drew their Magnums. They grew closer to the container and the struggling grew louder. They could hear the girl's voice from inside.

"Damn it, damn it where is it where it!"

Carolina signaled Washington to get on high ground and he did so. Carolina walked over to the blown off doors of the container and took aim.

"Finally I found it!"

"Step out and put your hands up!"

"Son of a bitch."

"Come on out slowly kid. Who are you."

"Oh me, I'm Kristen Gilbert okay."

"Okay Kristen now come on out and or I will shoot you. And I don't really want to do that."

"Okay okay calm down." The girl turned around and stood in shock at the woman in front of her. With the red hair and the same green eyes as hers. "Oh my God, its really you." She took off her helmet. Now Carolina was shocked.

"What the hell are you..."

The girl ran at her and wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug. "Mom! I'm so happy to see you!"

Carolina just stood there, arms up as the girl held onto her. After a second longer it was more awkward for Carolina. "Um, what did you just call me?"

The backed away. "Mom. Your my mother."

"Okay kid slow down. I'm kinda having..."

There was a sudden crash and a yelp as Washington came crashing down. "I'm okay I'm good." he managed to say when he finally stood up. "Okay put your hands and, well you know the rest."

They both stared in shock, then they heard sniffling. The girl started sobbing at his presence. "Good job Wash, you made her cry."

"What, I'm sorry I didn't mean to..."

The girl cried and ran at Washington, wrapping her arms around him. "Daddy!" She buried her chest in his chest and cried. Washington gently patted her trying to calm her down. "Daddy."

Washington whispered to Carolina pleading for an answer. "what the hell is happening?"

Carolina whispered back. "i don't know."


	2. Chapter 2

**April 23rd 2550 _ Mother of Invention-Mess Hall _ 1630 hrs Earth Time**

After several more minutes of awkward crying and holding, Washington, Carolina and this strange girl who called them her parents regained their cool and they all regrouped at the Mess Hall. The two agents didn't really believe her but it was odd seeing this girl, just being around her they felt different. Washington left the two to fetched the two some drinks. Carolina still hadn't forgotten how well Washington handled this whole situation. She still couldn't keep her eyes off the girl who was still sniffling and watery eyes. What really kept throwing her off was her own green eyes on the girl. Washington soon returned with some coffee. Never to early or late for coffee.

"Alright Kristen, I hope you don't mind the coffee." Washington said and sat down beside Carolina.

"Thank you Dad." The girl said and took a sip.

"Okay Kris," Carolina said. "Now can you tell us what you doing here?"

"Well first off, my real name is Emma. Not Kristen Gilbert or Aileen Wuornos or Cathy Wood, those are just aliases I use to throw people off my trail. And also I'm from the future. Of course."

"Okay then, _Emma_. Next why did you call us your parents? Me and Washington aren't together. Like at all."

"Well, in the future, yeah you guys are. Your married and I'm your daughter. I even have some of... what?" Emma noticed how Washington and Carolina were giving her confused and surprised looks. "Whats up, is there something in my teeth?"

"No no, not that. Its your, hair and eyes."

Emma grabbed her helmet and looked her reflection off the VISR. It was that time again. Her hair was slowly turning from her usual light brown to red and one of her Green eyes was blue like Washington's. She took a small puff and continued to explain. "Oh this, yeah well, its a genetic mutation. My hair and eyes change color three times every few months. It only last 24 hours."

"I've never heard of that before. That can't be real."

"Actually it is." Washington added. "Its an extremely rare genetic mutation where the persons eyes and hair color change in relation with that of the parents DNA. Its even more rare for someone to be born with it with no history in the family, but other then that, it is passed down from generation to generation. Sometimes, or not at all."

"But neither me or you have that."

"Thats true, but my mother had it. And so did my great-grandfather, her grandfather. Its skips a generation."

"You see mom. I am your daughter. Both of yours."

Carolina honestly wanted to believe it, but she just couldn't. She would've loved to know that after all this and after the war she would get married and have a family. She always liked the idea of having a daughter, but this all just seemed to much for her to handle. "Look Emma, you seem like a sweet girl and all, but I'm sorry. I just don't see how me and Washington end up together and, I'm just not sure if I believe you."

"Mom. I am your daughter. Since I was a baby every night before I'd go to sleep, you come into my room to say goodnight before leaving on a mission. And you would always say to me the exact same thing. 'Don't say goodbye, say I'll...'"

"I'll see you later. So I'm never really gone.' My mother used to say that to me." Carolina had the most shocked and terrified look she ever had. Now, she was starting to herself in this girl. Maybe she really was her daughter.

"Exactly. You'd say that to me every night. You would never say good-bye, because you hate good-byes."

Carolina took a long time to cope with finally accepting Emma as her daughter from the future."Okay, okay. Your my, our daughter. So what now? What are you really doing here?"

"Thats, actually my problem." Emma showed them on her TacPad the diagnostics of her armor. "I can't go back to my time period because the power cells are completely drained. I'm stuck here."

"Okay then well how do you intend on going back?" Washington asked. "This can't be your mission, to just live here for the rest of your life."

"No its not. Finding Power Cells won't be a problem, but I was actually sent back to deliver you this message on my CommPad but its been corrupted, or something. I think the it got screwed up when I made my jump." Emma slapped the table an in angry gesture. "Damn it. Everything got f**ked so fast!"

"Hey you watch your mouth young lady." Carolina said.

"Mom!"

"Don't talk back to your mother." Washington added and went to examine the DataPad.

Emma huffed an annoyance. "I'm sorry Mom." She couldn't help but crack a small smile. It was strange, but it was nice having an argument with her parents again. At least for one last time.

"So whats the problem Wash?"

"I'm not sure. It looks intact and its functional. Its just the file inside seems locked down."

"Ugh, I told Simmons not to put that in." Emma said. "I told him but he kept blab, blabbing, babbling." Emma grabbed her head and started feeling intense pain.

"Emma whats wrong?" Carolina asked worried.

"Come on Emma say something."

Emma opened a compartment in her armor and pulled out a tiny syringe and stuck it in her neck. She immediately felt relief.

"What was that?"

"Nothing its just, I get these bad migraines. I'm okay now though."

"Are you sure? It looked bad."

"Yeah Mom. I'm okay."

"Alright then. So do you remember what your mission is?"

"Thats kind of the risk with time travel Dad. Sometimes you remain intact, sometimes you forget a few things, sometimes your drooling on the floor. Those are just a few probabilities."

"Okay. This thing doesn't look that bad, maybe some of out techs could crack the thing open."

"The sooner the better." Carolina commented. "So what do you plan on doing while your here Emma?"

"I don't know, I guess chill in the Cargo Hold."

Washington took Carolina to the side to have a private chat about the situation in hushed tones.

"are you thinking what i'm thinking?"

"we can't let her stay down there. what are you thinking wash?"

"i don't know. maybe she can just hang out with us. at least until we can get things sorted out more."

"i guess thats okay. but what if people ask questions?"

"we'll just say she's an intern."

"we don't take interns."

"i can't do this with you right now."

Washington and Carolina turned back around. "Okay new plan. Since we don't really feel comfortable with you staying down there, we think it'll be best if you just stay with us."

"Your sure? Its okay?" She asked.

"Yeah sure. It won't be a problem." Carolina said.

* * *

 **Mother of Invention-Freelancer Rec. Room _ 2000 hrs Earth Time**

After having a nice 'family' meal and taking a long tour of most parts of the ship, they ended their day with having a meet up at the Rec. Room. Emma had heard stories of this ship several times but actually being here was different story all together. It was much better then the old canyon back home. That got old when she was 11. She had explored just about every inch of the canyon, even the underground caves so it had gotten old quick.

They arrived here in the Rec. Room where they were welcomed with questions from Connie and York about the new comer.

"Hey guys whats going on?" York asked, but then noticed the girl. "Wait a second Aileen, what the hell?"

"Al. Your the kid who got away."

Carolina and Washington looked at Emma in confusion. "Care to explain Emma?"

"Oh yeah, I kind of escaped from jail."

"Yeah and then disappeared from us. We thought she was with the Resistance." Connie added. "What is she doing with you guys anyway?"

"She's with uh. She's uh..."

"She's an intern. She's learning under our expertise." Washington answered which made Carolina face palm.

After a moment York finally responded. "Seems legit. Wait! I thought she had, what?" York was now flabbergasted with the fact that Emma now had Red hair and Blue eyes. Carolina's red hair and Washington's blue eyes. "What the f, my head hurts."

"Wait I thought you had brown hair and green eyes." Connie finally managed.

"What?" Carolina said, trying her best to ease the already awkward situation. "What are you talking about Connie?"

"Connie I think your mind is playing trick on you." Washington added.

"You know what I'm getting tired of this I'm leaving. Come on Connie we need to get going."

"What, whats going on?"

"Me and York have a mission and so we're heading out." Connie said. "We won't be back for a few days. So have fun with, _her_."

With that being said York and Carolina walked out but not before trying to grab a kiss from Carolina. She almost wanted to slap him, but just settled with pulling away. "York. Wh-What are you doing?"

"Ah come on Carolina, just a quick one. For good luck cause you know, I might not come back."

"York just keep walking. Or I'll slap you."

"Okay." York walked out.

York walked out of the Room. As soon as Carolina turned back around only to be faced with an upset Emma. "What was that Mom?"

"What was what?"

"That with Agent New York? Are you cheating on Dad!?"

"What!" Carolina got a lot more defensive. "N-No no. I'm not cheating on your father. Damn it now you've got me saying it."

"Mom! Your cheating on dad."

"No Emma, I'm not cheating. On anyone. York just plays like..."

"Emma calm down okay. York is just our friend, he likes to joke around."

Emma turned around to face her father in shock. "Dad? Your okay with this. I can't believe your okay with the guy who almost got you killed and kidnapped me!"

"What! He kidnapped you!?"

"I was 7."

"Oh that son of a..."

Washington almost went after York but was stopped by Carolina. "Wash calm down."

"Carolina you heard her. He kidnapped our daughter."

"Okay yeah I get it I'm upset too now. But we have to stay calm. Besides that hasn't happened yet and now we know."

Washington was about to snap but after a few deep breaths he calmed down. "Okay okay. I'm good. Emma is there anything you can tell us about the future."

"Sorry dad. But I can't really expose much about the future. You know, whole time paradox deal. Paradigm Shift, just to much of a hassle. I have a question now, when do we sleep. Time travel is exhausting."

* * *

 **Mother of Invention-Freelancer Barracks _ 2100hrs Earth Time**

They finally arrived outside of there quarters. They were all tired after the events of the day so a god night sleep would do them all good. The only problem though was they never made sleeping arrangements.

"Okay so what are we going to do with you Emma." Washington asked.

"I don't know, I guess I'll just crash down in the Cargo Hold. That container looks is more comfortable then it looks."

"No no I won't allow that." Carolina spoke up. "Connie and York said they won't be back for a few days right. Maybe she can bunk with me."

"Yeah that can work." Washington agreed. "I guess I'll see you ladies tomorrow. Have a good-night."

"Wait hold up." Emma stopped him and pulled him into a big hug. Washington, being overwhelmed with emotion hugged her back. "Good-Night Dad."

"Good-night Emma."

They pulled away and Washington headed down the hallway for his room and Emma and Carolina entered there room. After taking quick showers and got dressed they readied themselves for bed. Carolina loaned Emma some of Connie's pajamas. Luckily for her, they were the same size. Before sleeping of course Emma when ahead and continued where she left off in _Silence of the Lamb_. She already read the entire series but felt it was necessary to reread them. This time in chronological order starting with _Hannibal Rising_ , then _Red Dragon_ and so on.

"I see it now." Carolina said.

"What did you say?"

"Wash does the same thing. He reads a Hannibal Lecter book before sleeping. I see how he's your father." Carolina first caught on to that during one over night mission. It sparked a pretty interesting and disturbing conversation. "I never understood his fascination with it, I mean he's a Serial Killer right, who eats people."

"Its not just that Mom. Its everything behind it. The psychological aspect, the psychopathy, the mind games, the whose playing who. Its just a constant thriller with psychological horror to it."

"You can keep on talking but I'm sorry Emma, I just don't get it."

"Yeah, you were never much for it anyways. I remember you'd complain to Dad about reading it to me when I'd go to sleep. Said it would mess with my head." They both gave chuckles and then Emma but the book down. "Good-night mom."

Emma turned around and clutched and snuggled with the pillow. Carolina couldn't help but smile at how peaceful and cute she looked. The concept of this girl actually being her and Washington's daughter was still hard to grasp but just seeing her in person some how made it easier. Within minutes Emma fell into deep sleep as indicated by her quiet snore, kind of like the way she sleeps. After a minute of watching Carolina turned off the lamp and went to sleep. Never breaking contact with Emma. "Good-night Emma."


	3. Chapter 3

**April 24th 2550 _ Mother of Invention-Freelancer Barracks _ 0130 hours Earth Time**

Emma couldn't sleep. She remained laying in bed tossing and turning, unable to fall into a sleeping state. She could hear gunfire in the distance, explosions, cries for help.

Her eyes shot open and jumped out of the bed. She was in her old room back home. Back in her own time. She climbed out and ran out into the hallway to find someone but there was no one insight. The entire base was completely abandoned. All personal affects left behind. She had no choice but to run outside. There were cracks in the wall and large indentations. Signs of a recent battle.

Over in the distance she could hear yelling from familiar voices. She climbed over the hill and in the other base she could see the Reds, Doc and Dr. Grey were rushing to get their vehicles repaired. The Blues and the NewRep Lieutenants were checking weapons, but there was no sign of Washington or Carolina. She doubled back to Blue Base to retrieve a weapon when she heard Sarge call out and the sound of a Broadsword fast approaching. She bolted into the base and took cover just as the bullets started pelting the ground behind. She made it just in time.

"wait wheres emma?" She could hear Dr. Grey cry out.

"i think she's still back at blue base." Tucker replied.

At the sound of their worried voices she ran for the other base. On her way out the doorway she tripped over something and collapsed to the ground. She turned to see what it was that caught her, and froze dead still. She couldn't move nor breath.

"dad?" She remarked.

On the ground lying against the wall was Washington's body riddled with bullet holes on the chest and Carolina's body with a blown off side and a single hole through her helmet.

"Mom. Dad. Please wake up." Emma started crying and slowly crawled over to her parents bodies just praying that they would respond. "Please wake up! Please Mom. Dad please!"

She kept crying and hugged the bodies tightly. Tears continuing to stream down her eyes. "Please! Mom, Dad. Don't leave me again! I don't want to be alone!"

"its coming back!" She heard in the distance and another Broadsword was coming down. Bullets started pelting the ground and were only seconds away. Emma braced her parents bodies and waited to be reunited with them again.

* * *

Emma could feel intense pain sea throughout her back and woke up. She shot up from the bed and yelled. She was back in the room and panting for breath. She didn't know why she was having nightmares again, she hadn't had them in years, why now would they come back. She just pulled her legs to her chest and hugged her knees still shaking and crying from her nightmare. She could feel a pair of warm arms being wrapped around her and squeezing her in a tight hug.

"Shhh, its okay Emma, its okay." Carolina said softly, but Emma couldn't stop herself from crying. Carolina gently rested Emma's head on her chest and comforted her. "Its okay Emma, it was just a bad dream."

Carolina's warm words brought comfort to Emma and her crying slowed to sobs. She was happy to be in the arms of her mother once again.

"I need to see Dad." She managed to finally speak.

"Are you sure? It was just a bad dream."

"Please Mom. I need to see Dad."

* * *

Washington splashed some water some water in his face and groggy vision began to clear again. He didn't know why but he had a nightmare. He had them before in the past but this one, it just felt, real. Like it was really happening. All of his friends were gone, it was just him, Carolina, Emma and a few Red and Blue Sim Troopers he had never seen before. All of a sudden there was an attack, he could hear Carolina screaming for help. An enemy soldier was taking aim at her, he had to save her. He pushed her out of the way and took the barrage of bullets and he woke up. That was it.

There was a knock at his door. After drying his face, he slowly walked over to the door and opened it. There in front of him was Emma wrapped in a blanket and Carolina standing behind her. They both looked scared. "Emma? What are you do..."

He was cut off by Emma jumping at him and hugging him tightly. She squeezed him hard as though she was scared that if she let go, he would be gone forever. She was scared, he had to hug her back. Its what a father would do.

"C-can we stay with you?" Emma managed to sniffle. She had been crying. But Washington didn't say anything. He just let them in and closed the door behind him.

"What happened?" He asked quietly to Carolina.

"She had a nightmare. She had been asking for you ever sense."

Emma stood in the middle of the room still shaking. Washington grabbed her and pulled her into to a hug. "Hey Emma. Its okay nothing happened. Everything's okay, we're all safe."

Emma wiped away the tears in her eyes. "Can we stay with you?" She asked again.

"Sure. Its not a problem."

Emma gave a sigh of relief. With the situation handled Carolina felt it was time to go. "Okay. I guess I'll head back and..."

Emma's eyes widened at that and quickly grasped at Carolinas hand. "No! Please Mom. I don't won't you to go. Please stay."

She could see the amount of fear in her eyes. She was terrified of her leaving. "Okay, I'll stay here."

Emma released her grasp and slowly climbed into the bed and curled up into the fetal position. Carolina felt pained by Emma's state, she pulled the bed sheets and cover Emma so that she could sleep comfortably. After a moment of silence Emma's eyes slowly closed, and she went to sleep.

Carolina and Washington sat on the other bed just watching her sleep. "Do you think she'll be okay?"

"I don't know, and thats what scares me."

"What happened?"

"She just woke up crying, I don't know what it was ,but what ever that nightmare was, it was bad."

"So what do we do now?"

Carolina breathed a heavy sigh. "I guess try to get some sleep. And hope that she does too."

"Okay, I can find an extra mattress and..."

"No its fine." That caught Washington off by surprise. "I don't mind sharing the bed with you."

"Are you sure?"

"It won't be the first time. And considering Emma's origin's It won't be the last." She chuckled at the last remark.

Washington shrugged and climbed back into his bed and made room for Carolina. It was tight but they managed.

"Well. I guess good night."

"Yeah. Good night." It was awkward for the both of them, but the dealt with it. For their daughters sake.

* * *

 **0530 hours Earth Time**

Washington woke up as he always did, at 5:30 in the morning. The only difference was this time, when he opened his eyes there was still Carolina, right beside her. She was still sound asleep. To say it was awkward was an understatement. Although Washington had to agree with what she said only a few hours ago. Sure it wasn't the first time they _had_ to share a bed, but it was definitely the first time with their daughter in the room. The fact that _they_ had a daughter was still off putting to begin with. There was something else that was strange, he felt awkward about thinking this but the way she looked sleeping, she looked peaceful, beautiful even. For the first time she actually looked peaceful. He had the urge to wrap his arm around her and hold her tightly, maybe she would've accepted it and curl up beside him. However he wasn't going to find out.

His train of though came to a halt when her eyes opened up. She to had almost forgotten that she was in Washington's bed. They both remained silent for the longest time.

"Is this as strange for you as it is for me?" Carolina asked.

"Yeah, I think so."

They lie there in bed for a few more minutes till they finally climbed out of bed and got ready for todays operations. All while trying to be as quiet as possible as to not disturb Emma. The stopped as they finished dressing when they heard Emma grunt. They turned to see her slowly open her eyes. She wiped her eyes and her vision started to clear up. She exhaled in relief in seeing that she was still in the room as before with her parents. Washington immediately sat beside her and put her arm around her.

"Hey you okay? You gave us a scare the other night."

"Yeah I'm fine. Still a little tired but fine."

"Are you sure?" Carolina asked. "You know you can talk to us."

"Yeah its fine. And thanks again, dad. For letting me stay."

"Its no problem."

"Now come on, you get dressed, your mom and I will wait outside."

Washington and Carolina walked out of the room, leaving Emma a few clothes to change into. They waited outside the room, both with expressions of worry.

"Are you thinking what i'm thinking?" Washington asked.

"Yeah. And I'm worried too. What do you think we should do?"

"I honestly don't know."

"Maybe just make sure she's okay. Take care of her."

* * *

 **Mother of Invention-Mess Hall _ 0630 hours Earth Time**

Washington returned to the table with treys of food and took the seat beside Carolina. Emma gladly accepted however she was still upset about last nights events. Washington and Carolina didn't exactly know how to bring this up. They could tell she really didn't want to talk.

"Emma you know you can talk to us." Carolina spoke up.

"I'm fine mom. I've always had nightmares."

"Thats not okay. Talk to us, let us be here for you..."

"I said I'm Fine Okay!" Emma almost yelled but she quickly calmed down, realizing that she was yelling at her parents. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell."

"No its okay." Washington said. "We didn't mean to pry. We're just worried about you Emma thats all."

"Yeah I know. I just, I just don't want to talk about it right now."

They started eating their breakfast but where interrupted when a few other agents started walking in. And out of the few, the Dakota twins were the first ones to take notice of the three and walked over.

"Hey guys hows it going?" North asked.

"Hey North. We're good."

"Good. And whose this?"

Washington and Carolina fell silent. They didn't know how to explain this situation. Lucky enough, Emma interjected. "My names Charlie Albright. I'm a recruit, and am training under Agent Carolina and Agent Washington." That seemed to work enough. North and South bought it.

"Well, nice meeting you Charlie. I'm North Dakota. North and this is my..."

"Twin!" South interrupted. "South Dakota! So whats your story newbie?"

"I-I don't have a story. I'm just with Agents Carolina and Washington."

"And, and we're going to be continuing training after breakfast. At the Range." Carolina added nervously.

"Right, right at the Range. And maybe some hand to hand." Washington added.

"Alright. Good luck guys. And Charlie, good luck with, _Wash_." South said and then followed her brother to get food.

"Well thats the Dakota Twins. Good bunch."

"I don't like South." Emma brought up, and scowled at her in the distance. "Dad becarful around her. She's not the most trust worthy."

"Thats just how she is, wait did she help York kidnap you!?"

"What! No no, actually she's a sweet heart with me, but, I don't want to say anything and compromise to whole time space continuum, I'm just gonna say that it doesn't go well for you."

"Okay, I vaguely get it."

"So what are we doing after breakfast? Are we really going to the Range?"

Washington and Carolina shared a look and then just shrugged. "I don't see why not. Are you any good?"

"I had the best of the best to train me. My own parents. You guys taught me everything I know."

* * *

 **Mother of Invention-Armory _ 0715 hours Earth Time**

Washington grabbed his signature 55HBSR Battle Rifle. Carolina took her signature M6G Magnum. After Emma equipped her armor she pulled out a special Lock Box containing a few personal items, but what was really impressive was the Magnum. A custom made M6D Magnum, 15 round extended magazine, polished receiver for a lower (to 0%) chance of jamming, laser sight, 4x smart scope uplink, and SOCOM modifications and for looks, a polished slid to give it a silvery shine, and pearl grips. It was a beautiful pistol and Washington couldn't take his eyes off it.

"Wait where did you get that?" He asked.

"This, this is my gun."

"Really, because it almost looks like mine." Washington walked over to his Locker and pulled out an almost identical looking Magnum.

"Yeah its the same one. You gave it to me for my tenth birthday." Emma said and cocked the gun and walked over to the nearby Holo-Range. Before they could join her, Carolina pulled Washington to the side.

"What the hell were you thinking in giving a 10 year old a gun. For her birthday." She said, clearly upset.

"I don't know, I probably thought it would've been thoughtful. Actually no, I knew it would be. This is my most prized possession. Given to me by my father."

"I still think it was a bad idea."

"Your just jealous because it was probably better then anything you gave her." Washington said as he loaded his Battle Rifle.

Carolina gave an annoyed huff. "Shut up. Now lets go see if we're as good teachers as we are parents."

They walked into the Holo-Range just as Emma walked into a range. The Holo-Targets were appearing aa the timer was about to start.

"Alright Emma, lets see if we're good instructors."

The timer started and the targets were on the move. The first one to move was a target looking like an ODST. It popped out of cover and dispersed into particles when it was shot in the head. Another popped and Emma shot it with a precise headshot. The next three targets appeared and Emma fired three shots. The targets disappeared at in instant. The timer ran out and Emma put her gun down. She turned to her parents who stood there amazed.

"So? Did I do good?"

Washington and Carolina were still surprised. "Yeah! That was great!"

"Really great!"

A big smile came across Emma's face. "Thank you. I did learn from the best. In fact I'm actually the best marksman in my unit. Which you also trained."

"Wow. So we're some pretty teachers huh?"

"Pretty much yeah."


	4. Chapter 4

**April 24th 2550 _ Mother of Invention-Freelancer Rec. Room _ 1030 hours Earth Time**

The next few hours flew by as quickly as the rounds did in the Firing Range. Carolina, Emma, and Washington enjoyed having a nice family competition to see who could get the best score. Despite doing their best the Freelancers lost to their much better trained daughter. Seemed as though they were better teachers then they initially thought. Either way, they all agreed that that was enough training and so they reunited in the Rec. Room to enjoy some more down time with laughs.

"I feel like you had an unfair advantage with that Magnum." Washington finally said aloud.

"Come on Wash. You have one too why didn't you use it?"

"Because it would be cheating."

"Come on Dad, cheating? Really?"

"Hey! Its a real problem."

"Whatever."

Carolina and Washington went by the Pool table to start a game. Emma would've joined them but she started feeling a severe headache. The pain kept jabbing at the back of her head. "Hold on guys, I-I need to use the bathroom."

"Okay, make it quick we're about to start."

Emma waved at them and headed down the hall to the nearby bathroom. She found herself in front of the mirror, she could practically see the vein bulging out of her head. The headaches were getting worse. It was supposed to be at least a few more hours till she needed another dose. She opened her compartment and pulled out another tiny syringe. She was careful this, time and stuck it in her neck, directly in the major jugular vein. The serum quickly coursed through her bloodstream, taking affect immediately and she started feeling the sweet sensation of relief.

She looked in the mirror one more time. She felt horrible having to shot this junk into her body but she had no choice. If she doesn't put take these, she didn't even want to think about it. "They won't understand." She said to her reflection. "But they will. Eventually." One finally look and she walked out of the bathroom to join her parents. She kept them waiting long enough and was really looking forward to Pool. Whatever the hell that was.

South stepped out of the stall in complete shock. She witnessed and overheard everything. "That chicks a junkie?"

* * *

Emma arrived back to the Rec. Room just as Washington was about to shoot, and North had decided to join them. She remained calm about the ordeal and walked over to grab a cue. They didn't need to know about her condition at least for now. All they would do is worry. For right now she joined her parents for the game. She still didn't know what it was.

"Alright Emma your back. So should we do this dudes vs. chicks or what?"

"Sounds good to me. Emma?" Carolina asked.

"Yeah thats fine. Um one small problem though. I've never played Pool. Like ever."

"Don't worry its fine. Carolina's the best at this so you won't have a problem."

Washington took aim, pulled back the cue and fired. The white ball collided with the cluster of balls which started bouncing around in different directions. Non actually made it into a hole.

"Well damn. You probably should've gone instead of me." Washington was clearly ashamed of his shot.

"Yeah no sh*t." North agreed.

Carolina snickered. "Its okay Wash, not everyone can keep it up all the time. Like so." Carolina fired and a striped landed in a hole. North chuckled at her success and at Washington's failure.

Washington started to fake chuckle loudly and slowly crept to Carolina to whisper. "we are getting a divorce."

"please. who would have sex with you then?"

"...you win this round. North!" Washington called out his name out loud. "Your up!"

North readied his shot. As the head marksman in Freelancer he should make this shot no problem. At least thats what Washington thought. North missed the first and second try and then hit one solid into the hole. "Shut up."

"I didn't sat anything. Emma."

"Huh?"

"Your up."

"I don't know how to play."

Carolina walked over and showed Emma how to properly hold the cue, aim and shoot. "Here, like this. You got it?"

"Yeah, I think so mom. Mam! Thank you for showing me Mam!" Emma said with a nervous look. Luckily North didn't catch on.

Emma hit the ball and got three stripped into holes. On her first time playing.

North and Washington shared an annoyed look. "We got played."

* * *

 **Mother of Invention-Mess Hall _ 1600 hours Earth Time**

After the guys got their asses handed to them, Carolina and Emma agreed to meet up later at the Mess Hall for lunch. Washington was on his way when he had an unexpected run in with South. A door to one of the nearby closets opened up and South pulled him in and shut the door.

"South! What the hell!"

"Wash I need you to listen to me! Its important."

"Can't it wait, I need to meet up with, wait, this isn't the moment you tell me that your in love with me is it?"

"What! No thats not it, what the f**k man. I'm talking about that trainee of yours. The newbie."

"Emma? What about her?"

"Dude, you f**ked up BAD! I think she's a junkie."

Washington just stared at her with the most horrified look on his face. "What! The f**k are you, no she's not a junkie."

"Oh yeah then explain why she was shooting up _this_ , in the bathroom, all sneaky like." South raised the empty syringe and placed it in Washington's hand. "I'm thinking it might be heroine or some sh*t, but who knows."

Washington couldn't turn away from the small thing. Emma shot up the stuff right in front of him and Carolina on her first day and she never told them what it was. He didn't want to believe that his daughter was an addict, but he didn't have much that proved the contrary.

"Proud of yourself? ' _teacher_ '?" South had the biggest smirk on her face. "I bet she kicked the habit until she meet you. Ha." She left the closet.

Washington stepped out to and headed for the Mess Hall as planned. He couldn't tell Carolina about this, at least not now. It would pain her if she thought that Emma was addicted. Were they not good parents? Did they treat her like a soldier instead of a kid? He couldn't help but think that it was his fault.

* * *

With the news still fresh in his mind he walked into the Mess Hall, disappointed. When he saw Carolina and Emma sitting down happy and smiling it brought a smile, but it only hid his real feelings. For now he kept up the fake smile.

"Hey Wash. Come on." Carolina waved him over.

Washington took the seat beside Carolina. They could still see he was upset however they only thought it was because of his loss at pool. He was still pretty upset about that but he wouldn't say what he was really upset about. "Come on Wash it was just a game."

"You'll get us next time dad."

"Whatever. Anyway, fish." They sat there eating and talking together for a good while until F.I.L.I.S.S. sounded over the intercom. Washington and Carolina were to report the command center. Apparently York and Connie needed assistance on there mission. Which was pretty sad considering that it was just a recon mission.

"Well it seems that we're gonna have to help them."

"Alright then. What do we do about her?" They both turned to Emma who seemed to pretty eager to join in.

"You wanna come Emma?"

"Huh, me? Your sure?" She said a little too eager, trying to hide her excitement.

"I know that look. You wanna come with us don't you?"

Without missing a heartbeat, Emma blurted out "Yes!"

Carolina just signaled her to follow and she did so to the Locker Room where they equipped their armor and weapons. And left off on there mission.

* * *

 **New Alexandria-Olympic Tower _ 2000 hours Reach Time**

FourSevenNiner dropped off the three troops on the roof of the tower and took off. She would be on stand by for Exfil or in case things went to even more sh*t, she would drop Texas in who came along with them. York and Connie were hiding out in some wall while security was hunting them down. They quietly climbed down to the lower floors and taking out most security that was in there way.

They turned the corner and before they could even raise their weapons, Emma dropped the two guards down in the hall with head shots. They continued down the hall and Emma dropped another behind the corner. Carolina and Washington couldn't help but feel proud of her. She was a real crack shot, not even Virginia was that good and he was the real pistoleer.

They finally reached Archive Room where the two unlucky Freelancers were hold up. Washington opened the door only to be bashed in the VISR. Carolina had to hold Emma back before attacking York for attacking her dad.

"OW! Son of a bitch!"

"Oh sh*t sorry man. Quick get in here." They listened and all piled in to the large room. Connie was busy fixing her assault rifle but noticed that Carolina and Washington had brought a visiter.

"Um what is she doing?"

"She's our intern."

Connie just nodded and went back to her rifle. Washington looked over at York and felt immediate hatred towards his friend. He clenched his fist and socked York right in the nose. "Mother, Son of a Bitch!"

"Wash what the f**k!" Carolina yelled.

"Damn. I'm sorry man, I didn't mean for it to hurt." Washington back away before he could strangle him. The thought of him kidnapping Emma as a kid returned to his mind.

"York are you okay?" She didn't have to ask, she could see that his nose was broken.

"Sh*t. No I think its busted."

"Okay let me fix that." Carolina took a step back and punched him in the other side of his nose. She remembered what Emma said about York kidnapping her. However it did put his nose back in place.

"MOTHER F**K-Hey my nose is good. Thanks."

"Yeah whatever anyway." Emma called out. "Whats the situation?"

"Well we were doing some Recon of the facility until..."

"Until this jackass..." Connie started off. "... decided to reactivate the power to charge his phone. Which in turn activated the alarm. Dumbass."

"Hey. Deathclaws were attacking my Vault I had to make sure my Dwellers were ready."

"Anyway.." Emma interrupted. "...Lets get back on topic. What do we do now?"

"Well lets just wait here until the calvary arrives."

"Um, York..." Washington added. "We are to calvary."

"Oh, well, we're f**ked."

Emma stepped away from the group and to a nearby terminal. Hacking into it was no problem for her she just bypassed the standard protocols and gained access to the security feed. "Hey guys check this out." The Freelancers walked over to the terminal. The hallways were clear so far and the Security Room was empty. "If we can get to the security room we can gain access to their systems and then find the objective. It shouldn't really be a problem."

"Good plan Emma." Carolina said and the rest gathered the gear and headed for the Security Room.

* * *

The halls were clear so far, Emma managed to keep them clear out of the guards way. Around five minutes later they came across the Security room which was now with four guards in heavy armor and carrying SAW's. It wasn't looking very good for them.

"i thought you said it was clear." Connie whispered.

"well i guess they got off their coffee break or something."

"come on guys lets focus. i've got something for this." York said and tossed a few grenades into the room. They exploded after a few more seconds and a scream sounded from the inside. When they jumped in the three soldiers were still in standing.

"Damn you suck."

They took cover as a hale of bullets passed over them and with those SAW's they had a whole bunch more coming.

"What are those things?"

"M739 Light Machine Gun. Big Machine Guns."

"Why don't we have some of those?"

"Because most of our budget went to that new Game Room you and York wanted so much."

"Worth it."

The bullets seized and that gave the Freelancers a chance to pop up and open fire, tearing apart he three guards. After putting the bodies down in some corner and taking their awesome guns Emma got to work to gain access to the rest of the security systems and Camera feeds. The Primary Objective was located down in the Vehicle Bay ready to be transported else where.

"Alright guys you need to get moving. Its in the Vehicle Bay."

They gathered there equipment and headed out the door way. But before they could leave Carolina stopped to see that Emma wasn't coming. "Emma what are you doing?"

"I'll stay here and monitor the situation. I can keep you guys updated." Emma could see the look of worry on her face.

"Are you sure your okay here?"

"Its okay mom. I'll be fine."

Carolina just nodded and followed her fellow agents down the hall.


	5. Chapter 5

**April 24th 2550 _ New Alexandria-Olympic Tower _ 2115 hours Reach Time**

The Freelancers turned the corner and there stood two more guards in front of the main Elevator to the Hanger Bay. They could easily take them out but if they missed one the second could hit the alarm and alert the whole building. From their distance, it wasn't really worth the risk.

"Well?" Connie finally broke the silence. "What are we waiting for, lets take them out."

"Sure lets do that." Carolina said in a sarcastic tone. "Lets kill one, miss the other and tell everyone we're here."

"Alright then, I'll stay quiet." Connie backed off.

"So what do we do now?" York asked.

"Shut up let me think." Carolina kept looking at the two guards down the hall who were busy having there own conversation and not actually guarding the elevator. However there seemed to be other hallways to the left and right. Meaning there could probably be more guards. She got on the radio. "Hey Emma you there?"

"[ _Loud and clear mo-Mam!_ ]"

"Check the end of the hallways. Are there any more guards, aside from those two?"

There was silence on the other end of the line. For a moment there was a sudden feeling of worry, but she quickly ignored. Then Emma came on again. "[ _Alright, it looks all clear on both hallways. Wait! Theres three guards coming up from the North hall. The left one. You have maybe a 72 second window, but its closing fast!_ ]"

"Alright, thanks." She closed the comms, and went back to her team. "Guys back up guards are coming soon so we need to move quick."

Carolina handed Washington a SOCOM'd M6C Magnum. Suppressed. They turned the corner and slowly crept closer and closer to the guards. They managed to close in on the two guards just before they took notice.

"What the? How long have they be-"

Carolina and Washington fired their weapons, dropping the two guards with instant headshots. York and Connie quickly ran ahead and caught the guards before they could hit the floor. With their heavy armor, they could easily alert the on coming guards. The elevator doors opened and the Agents quickly jumped in, bringing the dead bodies with them. Carolina spotted the three guards come around the corner just as the elevator doors closed.

"[ _Alright your in the clear._ ]" Emma came over the speaker inside the elevator. "[ _Also I managed hack into their comm system._ ]"

"Nice. Good job Emma." Carolina said. her praise brought little giggles to Emma, which could only be slightly heard.

"geez can you believe this kid." York said quietly which was clearly heard by Emma on the other line.

"[ _Um, I can hear you. Very clearly!_ ]"

All eyes went to the tan Freelancer who was now dead silence. The only thing he could manage was an extensive "uuhhhhhhhhhh..."

"[ _Ass!_ ]"

"Hey!"

"Emma!" Carolina scolded.

"[ _He started it!_ ]"

"No I didn't it was her, I swear!"

"[ _Liar!_ ]"

"Tattle Tale!"

"Enough! Both of you!" Washington scolded to the two. "Quit being Childish!"

The rest of the ride was filled with an awkward silence. The four agents and two dead guards just stayed there in complete silence.

"can you believe these guys."

"there dead Connie."

The awkward silence returned once again. Only a few breaths, and a few sways back and forth. Really it was the kind of time where you just wished you were sucked into a portal and you didn't care where you ended up.

"[ _Hey have you guys seen X-Files?_ ]"

* * *

The elevator doors finally opened leading the Freelancers into a darkened corridor. Emma was quick to turn on the emergency lights which illuminated the halls just enough. There were two halls, splitting off in different directions. They needed to split up, and of course York had already decided how they would do so.

"Okay then, so me and Carolina will go left, and you two go right. Come Carolina, lets give these two kids some private time." He chuckled out which brought groans to the rest of the party and Emma.

"Oh, bite me asshole!" Connie called.

"Why not Wash? I'm sure he's..."

"Oh f**k off!" Wash retorted.

"York don't start this again!" Carolina scolded and the tan Freelancer shut up. Emma came over the comms to deliver some news.

"[ _Umm, hey guys. We've got a problem. The pilot just called and she pulled out like two hours ago. Said something about,_ ' _needing some extra_ _help_ ', _I don't know. But it seems like we'll be on our own in the the mean time._ ]"

That response brought on a few groans in the crowd. Now, even if they managed to recover the primary objective, or if the needed MedEvac, they were stuck. At least for the next few hours.

"Emma please tell us you now how to fly at least a Falcon."

A few of the Agents crossed their fingers, hoping it would bring luck to their situation. As luck would have it, "[ _Of course. I can fly a Pelican too. Theres one in the hanger bay I could, in fact I could remotely access the controls and get it ready incase we need to bug out fast._ ]"

"How the hell can you do that?" Connie questioned.

"[ _Its the 26th century. Theres lots of things you can do with unprotected WiFi._ ]"

"Alright, while thats getting settled, Wash your with me, York and Connie take the east."

"Wait what?! Hold on..." Before he finished Carolina and Washington were already going down the hall. York was pretty upset until he realized that he was stuck with Connie. "Oh, hey, no hard feelings?" He squealed. Her bitch face was clearly visible through her VISR as she cracked her knuckles. "Well f**k!"

* * *

They heard the sound of a hard slap and a pitiful yelp in the distance as they left York to the mercy of a pissed off Connie. Being alone with out them was just fine by them but there was a real reason why Washington was glad to be alone with Carolina. He made sure they were out of the next cameras viewing, and thats when he shoved Carolina against the wall. Hiding under the cameras line of sight.

"Wash what the hell are you doing!" Carolina exclaimed, surprised by Washington's sudden ambush.

"I need to talk to you about something." He spoke in a hushed tone and so Carolina complied.

"Well can't it wait until after we're done with the mission?"

Washington dug through a compartment slot in his armor and held out the tiny syringe from before.

"Remember this?"

She did remember this. What she didn't know was why he had it. "Wash why do you have Emma's..."

"This is a different one. As in a second one." He wasn't making this anymore clear for her. "South saw Emma shooting this in her neck. In the bathroom while we were playing pool. She called her a junkie and its been bothering me ever since."

Carolina held the tiny syringe in her hand. She didn't want to believe that as much as Washington did, but without any explanation. "Well, maybe its nothing. Maybe its just medicine, or or something."

"Honest to God, I hope it is." They both gave sighs. They didn't want to believe that their daughter was a drug addict. As cold as it sounded this would have to wait. For now they would need to focus on the mission at hand.

"Well thanks for telling me this. Now lets get moving."

* * *

After a long walk they finally made it to the large Hanger Bay. There was an assortment of Warthogs, Scorpions, Hornets, and other vehicles. Just as Emma had told them. There was the Primary Objective. Something big and scary. And they were loading it into the back of a Pelican.

"They're loading the objective into that Pelican." Washington said.

"Yeah no sh*t!"

"You know, I wonder if I still take this much abuse when we're married."

"Shut the f**k up."

"Okay."

They could see that Connie and York had finally joined them, arriving on the catwalk above. They would have to take out the Warthogs before capturing the Primary Objective or they'd be torn to shreds. Washington slowly snuck past a few guards and containers and started placing charges on the Warthogs. Connie and York from above started firing Sticky bombs on the Warthogs on the opposite side of the hanger. At least as many as they had, they hadn't expected to be so much enemy armor they only took so many as 4 each.

Carolina was getting her sights on as many soldiers as she could. If they were detected then it would be a blood bath. "Emma hows it going on your end? Emma." There wasn't a response and she grew worried. The only thing she could hear was static on the other end. She switched channels. "Wash Emma's not picking up, try calling her."

Washington switched channels and tried so. "Emma please Respond."

There was a brief pause but then he could hear the rapid footpatrol around and then a frightened. "[ _Dad!_ ]"

"Emma! Emma honey whats wrong?"

"[ _Theres a bunch of heavy armor guys here! I think there looking for me._ ]"

"Don't worry, everythings gonna be okay."

"[ _I'm scared dad._ ]"

"Don't be your gonna be fine."

Right now the only thing that Washington could think of was creating a distraction, which would mean drawing all the soldiers here. He informed the situation to Carolina and they were trying to come up with a plan. However It seemed York decided to go ahead and alert everything soldier in the place when he fired a sticky bomb and it landed on someones helmet.

"Ow what the f**k is this sh*t!"

"Up there!"

All the soldiers looked up at the catwalk and at York and Connie. The only thing York could manage was a "Well sh*t."

"Someones here! Someones here!"

"Take them down!"

"Open FIRE!"

All of the soldiers in the Hanger drew their weapons and opened fire on the two Freelancers which had already jumped off the catwalk and behind a few containers. The blew the charges and several Warthogs and Scorpions exploded, killing several guards, but more just kept coming. The only good thing to come out of all this was when Washington received a call. It was Emma.

"[ _Dad, someone triggered the alarm and the soldiers left. Are you guys okay, is mom...?_ ]"

"Yeah Emma we're fine, York just sort of screwed us over."

"Emma are you okay?" Carolina frantically entered the chat.

"[ _Yeah mom, I'm fine._ _I'll try to divert the guards away from your side and slow them down._ ]"

"Alright just be careful."

They closed their comms and proceeded to fight off the oncoming swarm of soldiers that seemed to just pour out of every door. It was like Hydra, for every guy they took down, four more showed up, it wasn't looking good for the Freelancers. Finally they had to make a difficult call.

"Washington!" Carolina called out. "I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but Call Texas for help!"

* * *

The Pelican had already entered Reach's atmosphere and was only a few hundred miles away from Olympic Tower. It was always a bitch when dealing with Air-Force Security, but they managed to get through that. In the back was waiting Texas, Michigan and now Illinois who just had to join them on this mission. It wasn't his fault he never got team missions.

"...and so I sneak up behind the guy and I struck my Katana right through his back, he never saw it coming." Illinois was talking about one of his solo missions. Again. God he just loved to talk about his dumb Katana that he loved so much.

"Illinois you do realize that no one is listening." Texas said.

"Or really cares." Michigan commented.

"Come on Michigan you gotta admit that it was pretty sweet. You know, you and me, we should hit the town later."

"Have you forgotten that I'm one of the most wanted Serial Killers in over 17 Human Colonies? Reach has a Kill Order on me, I can't exactly go out for beers."

Just then FourSevenNiner activated her thrusters and were now flying significantly faster. She yelled out from the front of the DropShip. There was trouble with the mission and they were needed now.

"Hey guys, Carolina is on the Comms. I'm patching her through."

The sound of screaming yelling and gunfire sounded over the loudspeaker in the haul of the Pelican. Finally Carolina shouted. "[ _Agent_ _Texas, Texas do you read?_ ]"

"I read you loud and clear Carolina, sounds like you guys are having a party." Texas responded.

"I can't read." Illinois commented to himself.

"[ _We found the Primary objective, but we're taking heavy fire..._ ]"

"And you guys need reinforcements, huh?"

"[ _Just get down here!_ ]" There was an explosion and then the call was disconnected. By the time the hatch opened they were already circling Olympic Tower.

The three agents readied there weapons and were ready to jump. For some reason Michigan was the only one that didn't have a JetPack, but no one really noticed.

"Alright boys, see you down there." Texas said and then jumped.

"Alright Michigan. You ready BladeBuddy?" Illinois asked his fellow blade wielder,

"We've been through this, we're not Blade..."

"Come man. Blade Buddies." Illinois unsheathed his Katana and extended it out in front of Michigan.

After a moment of staring, Michigan gave a heavy sigh and finally succumbed to peer pressure, unsheathing his Machete. "Fine, _Blade Buddies_." They clanged blades, then sheathed their weapons and prepared to jump. "Alright come on NinjaBoy."

"I've told you! I am NOT a NinjAAHHHHH!"

Michigan pushed Illinois out the Pelican and then jumped out after him without a JetPack.

* * *

 **Authors Notes: Agent Illinois is an OC created by fan of the story and fellow writer SilverKnightja101 who requested for him to be in my story.**

 **Thanks again for letting me do this, and I hope he lives up to your expectations.**


	6. Chapter 6

**April 24th 2550 _ New Alexandria-Olympic Tower _ 2145 hours Reach Time**

They were surrounded by gunfire. Soldiers kept pouring out of every entrance in to the Hanger. The agents had depleted their stolen Machine Guns and there Primary weapons, leaving them with only their sidearms left, but even that ammo was starting to run low. Washington appeared from cover shooting down three enemies only to have to return to cover as more bullets attacked him. Four more soldiers replaced the three he killed.

"Um, Carolina? Is back up arriving anytime soon?!"

"I don't f**king know!"

Just then Carolina's comms rang with an incoming call from Texas. "[ _Carolina how are you guys doing down there?_ ]"

"Get your asses down here! NOW!"

"[ _We're dropping in. I've got Michigan and Illinois with me we'll be there soon!_ ]"

* * *

Texas leapt out of the Pelican and soon enough Michigan and Illinois followed. They were fast approaching on Olympic Tower. "Alright boys on my mark activate your packs to slow your fall. Sync!"

"Sync." Michigan said.

"Uhh, Sink." Illinois said.

After being only a few miles above the building she flipped and activated her JetPack to slow her descent. She could hear the other two fast approaching. "Mark!" Just as the Ninja got in to view he flipped and activated his JetPack to slow his decent. It was going well until they noticed Michigan shooting past them at high speeds.

"Mitch what are you doing? I said Mark!" Texas remarked.

"And I'm moving in." He replied.

"Your supposed to slow down! Use your Pack!"

"Packs? We were supposed to bring Packs!"

Before he could hear a response he crashed through the gates to the Hanger.

"Oh f**k!"

* * *

A Scorpion was moving into place and taking aim at the Freelancers makeshift bunker.

"SH*T! TANK!" York called out.

Right before it could fire something bursted through the gates to the Hanger like a missile and crashed into the Tank, destroying it completely. The gunfire seized and all eyes, Freelancer or not, went towards the wreckage.

"[ _Holy Crap! What was that!?_ ]" Emma sounded through the Freelancer's Comms.

"[ _Hey! Did you see Michigan fly through?_ ]" Asked Texas.

They were to distracted looking at the wreckage to respond. So far nothing moved from the burning remains of what used to be a Scorpion.

"Hey Michigan? You okay buddy?" Washington called out. And after a moment of silence they finally heard a

"Is my foot supposed to bend that way?"

"He's fine." Washington said. "He's okay."

The gunfire continued once again, at least this time half of it was directed towards the hunkered down Freelancers while the other half was towards the destroyed Tank. Texas and Illinois finally arrived and took cover with Michigan by the fallen tank.

"Oh God! Is your foot supposed to bend that way?" Illinois asked in disgust at his Blade Buddies disfigured foot.

" _Hmmm_ , I don't think so." He just snapped it back in place with a nasty crack. "There. Better."

With Michigan's foot back in place Texas decided they had wasted enough time and didn't waste anymore time to start wasting sh*t. "Alright guys. lets wreck some sh*t!"

She said and proceeded to lift the destroyed tank with her strength unit and throw it at the huge swarm of enemies, blowing up a few more warthogs in the process and killing more guys. Illinois ran from cover and started laying waste with his standard MA5B Assault Rifle. He was covered by Battle Rifle fire from Michigan who had rested on the top of a few containers. Texas, well, she did what she did best.

* * *

The first team started recovering ammo from the dead soldiers. There hadn't been anymore to keep up with the fighting so at least they had a momentary breather. Carolina had checked in with Emma to check on her situation. Everything was all clear so far. With the fighting dying down, the whole facility had gone to patrolling for trouble. Why? Because that just made sense. After the agents gathered their ammo, they regrouped with Texas and her team. As usual Carolina was always _happy_ to see her.

"Texas." She said blandly.

"Good to see you Carolina. Always happy to pull you out of the sh*t."

Carolina mentally punched her in the face but she was pretty sure she would've countered it anyway. She just settled with sticking her tongue out at her.

"Well look, its Illinois. Hows it going man?" York pointed out.

"Its good so far. Have I shown you guys my Katana?"

"Yes!" Everyone in the room yelled. He was always talking about his damn sword.

"Well!" Illinois remarked and started walking towards the door.

The other agents already made the call and FourSevenNiner was on her way to the hanger to recover the Primary Objective. She be arriving soon. in the mean time Carolina and Texas was working on getting the Primary Objective ready for transit. Washington had checked in on Emma, she was okay for now but just to be safe he wanted to be ay her side incase more goons made a stop by the Security Center. And considering they needed Connie and Texas for this, and he wasn't to keen on entrusting York with this task...

"Hey Illinois."

"Yo."

"I need you to head to the Security Room. One of ours is up there. Keep her safe."

Despite Washington's attitude towards his precious Katana, he agreed to the task. "Alright then. Who this guy?"

"Her names Emma. She's a, uh, an Intern."

"Huh, I didn't think we took interns."

"Neither did I." York sounded.

They ignored his comment, while he checked the vehicles nearby. Seeing if any of them, specifically the guns, were still good to use incase more trouble showed up.

Michigan decided to tag along as well. And with him on board, Washington knew there was something he could trust with this.

"Alright we're on the move. Come on _Blade Buddy_."

"I'm not your Blade Buddy. That was one time."

Carolina over heard that argument and couldn't stop from chuckling. "Blade Buddy?"

"Its just something the Ninja made up. You know because he has his sword and I have my Machete."

"I am not a Ninja!" Illinois called out. And with that being said, Michigan followed his partner out the hanger.

* * *

Emma waited as in the Security Room, trying to get all the access she could get to the security systems incase more trouble occurred. She tried running her special algorithm to pass through the firewalls and barriers so she gain access to the several functions of the facility. She didn't know who these bad guys were but who ever they were, they had a sh*t ton of money to have this sweet system. She only worried if her parents were okay, so far it was all quiet, but had an unnerving feeling that something would go wrong, real fast.

Her train of thought came to a halt when she heard voices coming from down the hall. She grabbed her magnum and was ready for who ever this oncoming threat was. She could hear by the sound of their voice that they were now within range.

"... He didn't off himself, they found him n his bunker alive, and so they froze his head."

"Mitch, why in the hell would they wanna freeze his head. Thats just a conspiracy. He killed himself before the Soviets got to him. Commie bastards."

"Sure Illinois. Thats what happened. And man travels in space." He said sarcastically.

"What the- man does travel in space!"

"Well, I guess they got to you too."

The sound of oncoming Magnum fire ended their conversation. Emma heard a girly squeal and the two intruders leapt into cover. Emma unloaded her entire clip before having to reload. At the sound of click, a hailstorm of bullets whizzed by her just as she got back in cover. MA5B Assault Rifle. With its 60 round mag, it'll be awhile she can shoot again.

 _Mean while on the other side..._

Illinois quickly reloaded his rifle and started firing again. Michigan was unable to get a clear shot of the opposition, he chose to stay hidden for now. He was annoyed however by Illinois shooting.

"You, know, if you trying aiming, maybe you could hit something."

The sound of a click, brought Illinois back to cover. "Hey! My aim is perfectly fine."

"I'm sure you girlfriend would say differently."

"Jokes on you I'm single."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...shut up." His assault rifle ran empty. he searched himself for anymore spare mags but non could be found. "Sh*t. I'm out. Guess we'll have to do this the hard way." He unsheathed his Katana and readied himself for the attack with some sort of battle mantra. " _I call upon my ancestors to grant me_ _strength..._ " He finished his speech and started doing some focus breathing. Building his strength for his fight.

"Are you praying or getting ready to give birth." Michigan asked. Illinois only leapt from his cover and charged towards the oposition with his katana raised and yelling BONZAI!

As soon as he reached the other side a steel-armored arm appeared and clotheslined him.

"So much for that plan." Michigan said and casually walked over to the other side.

Emma was ready to shoot the intruder when he recognized the emblem on his armor. Freelancer. "Oh, crap, I'm sorry are you okay? I thought you were a baddy."

Illinois slowly opened his eyes and and was welcomed to the sight a girl. Green eyes, light brown hair. He thought he was dead and talking to an angel because this girl was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

"Hello?" She asked again and knocked on his helmet. "Is anyone there?"

Illinois quickly got back up to his feet and played his injury off like it was nothing. " _Pfft,_ I'm fine. it takes more to bring me down."

"Yeah thats usually what the Ninja says when he's suffering brain trauma." Michigan appeared from behind.

"I am not a ninja." He raised his voice but quickly calmed himself down as to not frighten this girl. "But you know, I'm cool."

"You sure your okay, I hit you pretty hard."

"Its nothing I can't handle. Although It would've been a mistake to mess with a trained master Samurai, but I'll let it slide."

"Master Samur... Your Korean!" Michigan remarked.

"Says You!" Illinois rebutted.

"Says you family heritage!"

"Whatever you don't know."

"I DO know. I ran blood work on you awhile back."

"When in the hell did you do that?"

"From the time I... _accidentally,_ cut off your arm."

"YOU CUT OFF MY ARM!"

"I put it back."

"Guys!" Emma shouted getting the attention of the two supposedly mature Freelancers. She was getting ready to kill herself and then the rest of the building. "Can we focus please! Come on!"

Emma reentered the room and got back to work, leaving the two Freelancers alone.

"Seriously though, you probably are suffering brain trauma." Michigan said again and then walked into the room.

"Oh shut up. No I'm no..." Illinois said before walking into the wall, missing the door completely. "... Shut up. Don't say anything."

"I'm over hear dude."

* * *

With with the Primary Objective all wrapped up in one of the metal containers, that was still in good shape, the Freelancers readied themselves for Exfil. Emma managed to call off the any guards from entering the Hanger Bay by posing as the Security Captain. But it was only a matter of time till someone got nosey and decided to sneak in and see what was really going. For now the agents decided to relax a little after their heavy fight.

Carolina and Washington however were more concerned about Emma. The same questions kept coming up. What happens when she leaves? Could they just go back to their (somewhat) normal lives? Could they even look at each other without thinking of what their future holds? What would happen if someone from Freelancer found out? Hell, what if York found out? All these questions kept coming up, and they could find an answer. The worst one that came up was, what would become of them once Emma left? Washington was the first to ask, but he wasn't the only one to think of this.

"Carolina I have to ask you." He asked. Carolina could hear the dread in his voice. "Do you, love me?"

She couldn't keep it hidden from him. She couldn't lie to him. She wanted an answer from him too. "I'm sorry Wash. But I don't." She could see the disappointment on his face, but it wasn't unexpected. "Do you love me?"

"Well, I've always kinda liked you. But no. I don't love you either." He could see how disappointed she was, but likewise it wasn't a surprise.

"Well, at least we've gotten that out of the way. Less stress on our shoulders."

"Yeah. _Stress_. Because having your daughter come from the future isn't stressful enough."

They shared a chuckle which they were happy lightened the mood. At least for the moment. The sound of an aircraft could be heard far in the distance, interrupting most of the chatter. Now with their break ruined the Freelancers readied themselves for having the burden of putting the giant, glowing, scary thing, other wise known as the Primary Objective into the back of the Pelican.

"Alright boys." Texas spoke up, much to Carolina's annoyance. "And Carolina." That last one made her head exploded. "Time to pack up and get moving."

Texas gathered the rest of the agents as the sound of the aircraft grew louder. Getting closer. She made the call to FourSevenNiner.

"Hey FourSevenNiner. we're ready for the ready for Exfil."

"[ _Exfil?_ ]"

"Yeah, you know. So we can go home. We hear you coming"

"[ _What the hell are you talking about? I'm nowhere near the building._ ]"

"Then what the hell is coming in?!"


	7. Chapter 7

**April 24th 2550 _ New Alexandria-Olympic Tower _ 2330 hours Reach Time**

So far everything in the Security Room was all good and quiet. Illinois right now was trying to come up with the perfect pick up line to work on this girl Emma. So far he hadn't thought of anything, but he was started to get annoyed at how well Michigan was working on Emma. Or more like how she was working on him.

"And so yeah, I can just put in the name and birth date, and then it could release a virus that will delete everything on a person from any kind of database. Date of Birth, Military Record, Education, Criminal Record..."

Michigan was silent for the moment until finally responding with a, "That is the sexist thing I have ever heard."

Emma just gave him a sly smile and went back to work. Illinois went over to his friend and pulled him away for a private conversation. "Hey Mitch. Buddy. Look I need to talk to you. Man-to-Man.."

"You have the hots for her don't you."

" _pfft._ What. No. I do not have the how did you know?"

"Roy, buddy, I know you. When you first saw her you lit up like a freaking Christmas tree."

"Well... would you mind giving us some privacy?"

Michigan just stared at his friend for a moment. His silence was really disturbing until finally he said.

"Hey, Em I'm heading to the armory."

"Okay, bring me back something." Emma replied without looking away from her console.

Michigan patted his friends shoulder before departing and gave a cool "Good luck." and the walked out.

Now with him gone, there was no stopping Illinois now from working his moves. He took off his helmet, pushed his hair back and smoothly walked over to Emma. She still didn't look away.

"So Emma. Where you from."

"Chorus."

Sh*t. Illinois had never heard of Chorus before and therefore didn't have a pick up line. If she had said Reach or Harvest or Arcadia, he had endless content. She would'e been all over him by now.

"Chorus huh? I'm not familiar. Have you ever been to Arcadia?"

"Only once. Had to kill someone there."

Okay this was getting nowhere. Illinois just went ahead and put his helmet back on and started heading for the door. "You know what I'm gonna go join Michi-WHAT THE F**K!" He yelled out and then collapsed backwards. Emma ran towards the door at his sudden reaction. When she stepped out she the horrific sight of severed heads scattered around the hall and displayed in some kind of warning. "Mitch! What the F**K!"

"What? Its a force of habit."

"Force of habit? No! No thats some f**king Cartel Sh*t man, you what I'm staying here. If you need me, I'm just gonna go rock in some corner."

Illinois walked back into the Security Room and proceeded to throw up in some corner. When Emma returned she saw a new blip appear on the radar, heading for the Hanger Bay. It was pinged as blue, meaning friendly. But since this was an enemy system then this was it was friendly for them. And hostile for her, and her parents.

"Mom, its me, you've got trouble coming in soon."

* * *

They could hear the aircraft coming closer to the Hanger Bay. They realized now that it wasn't a Pelican. The sound of the engine and the thrusters, were much louder, it was something bigger. Washington had already made the guess of that it was probably a heavy Gunship. And as far as they knew, they didn't have any kind gunships at all in the _Mother of Invention_.

"Alright guys, we might have trouble." Texas said.

"Emma just called in." Said Carolina. "Its something big, we need to get ready."

All Agents readied their weapons and York set himself on the gun of a Warthog in case things got hairy. The engines of the Aircraft outside grew louder and was most likely hovering right above them. All guns were aimed towards the large steel doors of the Hanger. Suddenly the walls on the opposite side, the Hanger doors and the ceiling exploded as debris came crashing down. As soon as the debris dust cleared an enormous AC-220 Vulture Gunship came into full view. Aside from the Vulture's thrusters the only thing that sounded between that and them was Connie going, "Oh f**k me sideways."

The AutoCannons on the Vulture started opening fire on the Freelancers, tearing apart the steel being used as cover with Armor-Piercing rounds. However they had plenty containers to keep them protected, but it wouldn't last. And they knew that. When the fire died down Washington saw an opening an raced towards one of the last operating Rocket-Hogs. Carolina cried out to him as she watched him run and dodge bullets from the Vulture by mere millimeters. "WASH!"

He managed to reach the Rocket-Hog just as the Vulture stopped shooting to reload again. He climbed into the back of the turret of the Rocket-Hog and opened fired at the Vulture. The rockets managed to lock on one of the two Auto Cannons and a minor thruster. Taking significant damage, the Vulture retreated, but only momentarily.

The Freelancers got out of their cover and walked over to Washington. Carolina was the first to welcome him with a soft punch to his shoulder. It still hurt.

"Ow, what the F**k!"

"Wash, you dumbass, you could've gotten yourself killed!"

"Hey, I gave us a window! That gunship will be back soon, we need to move now."

"I agree." York commented. "Carolina, kick his ass later, right now, I want to get the f**k out of here."

The other agents walked over to ready the Primary Objective for when FourSevenNiner arrived to pick it up. Leaving Carolina and Washington alone. Before he could join them, Carolina gripped his wrist tightly. She wasn't done with him yet, but he realized that it wasn't really from anger.

"I'm serious Wash, you could've died." She said, now more worried then angry.

"Well if I didn't try something we could've both been dead."

She couldn't really argue with that logic, but still she had to let him know that he try anything risky. Neither of them could. "Just be careful okay! I may not be in love with you, but your still my friend and I care about. And with out you Emma..."

"...Yeah I know what will happen. Don't remind me. I'll be carful okay."

She didn't respond, she just let go and Washington joined the rest. Carolina joined them too just as their pilot arrived. In a rare moment, FourSevenNiner actually stepped out of her precious ship.

"Aright assholes lets get this thing latched and head home."

"Where the f**k were you!" Texas said clearly pissed off.

"I was, doing, some-recon! Yeah, recon."

"You were pre-ordering the Pip-Boy, Edition for Fallout 4 weren't you."

"What no shut up lets get going." She stepped off the ramp. And just in time as Washington spotted bright lights coming in. They were getting bigger and brighter, real fast.

"GET DOWN!" Washington cried out just as the a barrage of rockets crashed down on them. They managed to get in cover just in time, but the rockets destroyed to landing platform, bringing the Pelican down with it and landing on the platform below in rubble. As soon as the Vulture flew passed again, FourSevenNiner ran out and started running towards the wreckage, climbing down the dangerous debris.

"What the f**k are you doing!" Connie shouted towards the rouge pilot.

"I'm getting my ship! Don't worry baby I'm coming!" She called out as she continued to climb down the debris.

In the little time they had, Washington called his friend Michigan to get a hold on the situation. "Mitch, we're under attack, whats your situation!?"

"[ _I'm pretty good. How are you doing? Being under attack and all._ ]"

"How's Emma, have you guys met any resistance?"

"[ _I don't know, trying calling her._ ]"

"WHAT! Where are you!"

"[ _I'm up in the Armory, seeing what kind of toys they've got._ ]"

"Get back there! Now..."

His response was caught off just as more enemy fire came pelting at them. ShockTroopers. They came in repelling down from the floor above. The Freelancers had no choice but to take cover. York managed to get on the Machine Turret of the semi-working Warthog and started unloading at the enemy. It did little to slow the approach. They were being commanded by the same Resistance soldiers from the Highway when they stole the Sarcophagus. They'd be the real problem.

"Sh*t! F**k! these guys are trouble." Texas called out and returned fire.

"Yeah, no sh*t!" Carolina retorted.

"[ _What is going on down there!?_ ]" Michigan came over the comms again.

* * *

Michigan was busy cutting off a soldiers head to hear Washington's response. Shock Troopers managed to make it into the building and he was doing his best to dispose of them without drawing attention.

"What was that, I didn't catch that."

"[ _I said, we're taking fire_.]" Washington responded. "[ _Have you found anything useful?_ ]"

"I'm not sure. These weapons, I don't know bro. I've never seen anything like these." He walked over to one of the crates containing some sort of weapons. Experimental Weapons. "Wash, these guys are so much better funded then we are. I swear."

It was marked with the label Z _110_. He opened the crate and inside was some kind of handgun. Large, metallic, dim orange lights, and a strange body. He had never this seen before. It surely wan't Covenant, but it didn't look like a regular human weapon either. He started checking some of the other crates which were more likely part the same line of weapons. Another crate with the label _Z-250_ had some strange kind of rifle. Similar design to the Handguns he found earlier. All these crates had also the same logo, most likely from the manufacturer but he had never heard of this before.

"Wash, bro, we've got a problem. I don't think these are your average rebels. Some of this stuff is insane. Have you ever heard of _Charon Industries_?"

"[ _Yeah yeah, great story. NOW HELP US! OR GO BACK TO THE SECURITY ROOM!_ ]" His call was cut from the sound of a bullet barely whizzing past him.

* * *

In the Security Room, Emma was trying her hardest to keep the Vulture away from her parents, but every time she activated one of the outer defenses it was immediately destroyed. In the distance she could hear enemy patrol from down the hall.

"Illinois get ready, we might have trouble."

Illinois didn't understand wha the hell she was talking about. He thought she was gong crazy, then he heard voices coming from down the hall. They couldn't recognize their voices so they had to be hostil. Plus they didn't know about Michigan's handy work.

"What the f**k!" One voice said.

"Dude, thats some Cartel sh*t." Said another voice.

"I f**king told you." Illinois said to Emma before reloading his Assault Rifle.

"Oh shut up." She loaded fresh magazine into her Magnum just as the doorway started taking fire. "You just had to open your mouth!"

"Shut up." Illinois responded before returning fire. He realized to late that these were ShockTroopers, and behind them, leading this squad were two of the Resistance Soldiers from the Highway. Demo-Man and of Muscle Punk-Ass. The real sons of bitches. "Damn it, those assholes. We've got a problem."

"What more bad guys?"

"Yeah but these guys are worse. And bigger assholes."

Illinois returned fire and dropped two ShockTroopers but two more advanced, catching him by surprise. One ripped his weapon from his hands while the other kicked him to the ground. before they could finish him off, Emma came to the rescue. She kicked one of them in the chest, and fire two rounds into his head, killing him instantly. The second she kicked him in the knee, shattering the leg and dropping him to his knees and then delivered two powerful punches to the neck. Illinois swore he heard something crack. And he was pretty sure it wasn't her hand.

"Damn! You've got moves. Thanks."

"No problem, now keep them off us."

* * *

The Freelancers kept firing at the oncoming ShockTroopers but they just kept coming. All of a sudden a hailstorm of bullets started raining past them. The Mini gun Twins dropped in, keeping the Freelancers in cover.

"I f**king hate these guys!" York called out as more bullets shredded through plates of steel near him.

The gunfire started to slow down. They were retreating. Washington looked over his cover to see that the Resistance had already tied the Primary Objective to the Vulture. The rest of the ShockTroopers and Resistance soldiers started escaping, taking the Primary Objective and the rest of their men with them. They escaped without a problem.

"F**K!" Texas shouted. "They f**king got away with our target!"

"Who the f**k are these guys?! How did they get their hands on a f**king Vulture! Even we don't have those!" The arguing continued until they realized that one person was missing.

"Michigan was right, They are better funded."

"Where the hell is FourSevenNiner!?" All eyes went to the debris below. To their surprise most of the ruble was clear and the Pelican was mostly intact. It looked like there was light coming from the hold. Seemed like the pilot was making repairs. "FourSevenNiner! You good!?"

She didn't bother paying attention, just kept working on repairs. "Don't worry baby, just a few more bo bo's. Mama will make you better."

She had clearly lost it. But the sudden change in her tone, reminded Washington of something. Emma.

"Emma, this Wash, come in." He made the call but all the only thing he could hear was static. He tried again. "Emma please respond."

The sound of a struggle and gunfire came over the other line. "[ _We're in trouble, Illinois's down, I'm all alone!_ ]"

Washington called for Carolina and together they made their way out of the Hanger and towards the halls to reach the Elevator. "Wash, whats happening?"

"Its Emma!" She didn't need any other reason. They were both now running at full speed. "Emma whats the situation? Are you hurt?"

The gunfire had been replaced with painful grunts, punches and groans and finally finishing off with Emma's terrified screaming. "[ _DADDY!_ ]"

The line went down.


	8. Chapter 8

**April 25th 2550 _ New Alexandria-Olympic Tower _ 0115 hours Reach Time**

They bolted into the jumped into the elevator just as the doors closed. Carolina hit the button to move several levels above them. "Alright now tell me whats, Wash?" Washington sat on the floor of the Elevator. Head down, hands shaking, scared. "Wash, whats wrong?" Carolina kneeled beside him and gently placed her hand on his shoulder.

"You should've heard her Carolina. She sounded so scared. And I couldn't do anything."

Carolina could hear the sadness in his voice. The way he spoke about what happened made it sound like he felt responsible. "Wash, its not your fault. You could've never known..."

"I should've been there with her, instead of sending the others..."

"Wash!" She raised her voice which caught him by surprise. "Listen to me okay! Its not your fault, we needed you down there! You could've never known that those soldiers would show up, okay!"

Washington didn't say much after that. But it didn't seem that Washington had a different attitude. "What do we do now?"

Carolina stood up just as the Elevator doors opened and offered her hand. "If Emma's in trouble then we need to help her. And I can't do it with you." Washington accepted her hand and stood back up.

* * *

They finally reached the door doors bursted open to the Security Room. The doors were shut. Opening the doors by hand proved pointless, something was blocking it from the other side. Carolina tried budging it herself, but that proved useless as well. She could still see how depressed Washington was.

"Doors stuck. Come on Wash, I need your help." Carolina said in a more calmer tone then before.

He didn't say much after that, but he did offer assistance. Together with their combined strength and weight they pushed the doors aside. A dead body fell out and collapsed in front of them. ShockTrooper. Carolina was ready to walk in but noticed that Washington was hesitant. Thinking about Emma, he didn't want to go in. He took a single step back, not wanting to see what was could be Emma's last moments. Carolina took his hand in hers. He clutched hers tightly. "Its okay." She said. "Come on." Washington prepared himself just in case. In case they found Emma's broken and lifeless body.

There were seven bodies. The three Heavy Soldiers they killed from when they first survived, and four other ShockTroopers. Some monitors and consoles were still operational, but the rest of the room was practically destroyed. The only sense of comfort Washington could find was that Emma wasn't here. They searched longer, moving bodies machine and debris but she was nowhere to be found.

"Oh thank God." Washington said more relieved.

"She's not here. But seems like she put up one hell of a fight." Carolina said. "Thats our girl."

They heard shuffling in some back corner of the room and immediately raised their weapons. The large console fell over and out came an armor-clad arm.

"Get up asshole!" Carolina commanded. Whoever it was there didn't respond. The armor color didn't match with the enemy. Washington started feeling hopeful that maybe Emma was there. However he had wait until she responded. Carolina was ready to squeeze the trigger. "I said move!"

Finally another machine collapsed and out popped out a soldier in armor. "Few! Glad to be out of that." It was Illinois.

A disappointed sigh escaped both there mouths as they saw there fellow Freelancer, and not their daughter. "What the hell are you doing!?" Carolina interrogated.

"Well I'm sorry, I was just thrown into this stuff like f**king rag-doll by that Muscle bound prick!" Illinois responded sarcastically. His response made Carolina more frustrated that she was ready to snap his spine. "And you know what maybe if we were warned a little..."

"...Just shut up! Go join the others, Now!" Hearing the aggression in her voice, he didn't bother replying, he just went ahead and walked out.

Washington sat down again this time removing his helmet. He put his hands to his face, like he was about to cry. Carolina sat down beside him, removing her helmet too. "If she's not here, then that means they have her. What there probably going to do to her."

"Wash don't think like that. I meant what I said before. I can't do this without you."

"Sure you can. Look at me, I'm a wreck. I'm hopeless. I bet thats why Emma follows you more."

Carolina gave another heavy sigh. "Wash look at me. Do I look like _Mother-of-the-Year_? Do I even look like I'm capable of taking care of another human being?" Carolina hunched her shoulders, relaxing a bit more. Remembering the old days wasn't the best memory. "When we first started I could barely take care of you and the others. Without yelling, screaming and threatening to punish you for insubordination. You honestly think I could have the time or patience for a child. I'm not mother material."

Washington moved his hands and looked up to see the sadness and sympathy in her eyes. Not just sympathy for him, but for herself too. "Why do you care so much about how I feel."

Another sigh from Carolina. She put her hand over his and rested her head on her shoulder. "Its not just that. Even before coming to the program, I always thought I was a soldier, nothing more. I could never be a mother, I could never have children; its just not me. But then Emma shows up out of nowhere, and suddenly that life seems possible. Thats why this matters so much. The fact that in the future I, we actually have a future, a family, It means everything."

Washington was too surprised to hear all of that, he didn't respond. He didn't bother moving either. He actually kind of liked this. They way they sat there together. If they didn't love each other before, then it was slowly starting to build. She finally let go and stood back up.

"Alright." Washington spoke and stood up as well. "Come on. We should probably head back with the others. They'll be waiting for us."

* * *

 **New Alexandria-? ? ? _ 0300 hours Reach Time**

Everything was black. The only thing Emma knew was that she had bag of her head, she was being dragged down some hall and her body ached. The guy on her left was large and very muscular, he didn't even have sleeves. The other was more slim and had a knife hanging from there thigh. And from the sound of their voice, she was a woman. And a rather bitchy one at that.

They finally came to a stop when the sound of a door hissing open and then came to her attention and then she was thrown forward. "We finally manage to capture one of these Freelancer assholes and we don't even get to f**k with the kid a little. Bullsh*t!"

They walked out of the room and shut the doors behind him. Emma rolled onto her back, her whole body burned from when they punched and kicked her repeatedly all over. She took off the bag over her head. She was in a dark room with a single window about ten feet high. They had stripped her of her armor, most likely keeping it for study. At least they had the decency of letting her keep her Combat Skin suit and her t-shirt. The dark room was empty except for a single iron rod attached to the wall. She checked her TacPad. "mom, dad, can you hear me?" She only heard static on the other line. "mom, dad, please. come in." Nothing. She couldn't get signal in this place. She was alone. It was just like being 7 years old again. Only this time, her parents wouldn't be able to save her.

She could hear footsteps approaching in the distance and quickly hide her TacPad under her sleeves. The door slid open again and the two soldiers from before and the guy with the robot arm walked in holding a metal rod. He was the same one that attacked her back in Olympic Tower.

"You Freelancer assholes can't seem to stay out of our way. You all just had to show up didn't you."

She didn't say anything. She wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of speaking. "I don't think she wants to say much." Said the woman.

"Not gonna talk huh. Thats fine by me, we'll just have you sit here, at least until the boss says we can have more _fun_ with you heh." The creep with the arm leaned over and slid his fingers around her chin. Oh she didn't like that she head-butted him hard. "F**K!"

Immediately the woman marched forward punched Emma in the face. She tried To block it off but her arm was to weak. The woman grabbed her by the throat. "You know it be ashamed if I had to cut up this pretty face of yours." She bashed Emma's head in to the wall.

The soldiers walked out and shut the door. Emma quickly ran to it and tried to pry it open but it was no use. It was sealed shut. She just curled in a corner and tried not to cry. Where ever she was, she couldn't contact her parents, so there was no way for them to find her. She didn't want to go through this again. "Come on mom and dad. Help me."

* * *

 **New Alexandria-Olympic Tower _ 0230 hours Reach Time**

They spent the last few hours searching the tower, looking for any sign for where Emma was or where they took her. The ShockTroopers that remained in the Tower refused to talk and felt Carolina's wrath. If they didn't want to talk, Carolina beat them until they cried or their head caved in and bled everywhere. Washington just stuck to moping around and groaning and being depressed. Carolina kept trying to keep him from going to a darker place but he just stayed depressed.

They finally returned to the hanger where the rest of the Agents were either wishing they were dead, or passed out asleep waiting for FourSevenNiner to repair her precious Pelican. There were still a few Pelicans left in the Hanger but the Pilot just had to repair her precious drop-ship.

"Hey guys, where've you been?" Michigan was the first to approach them. "You've been gone for hours we figure you guys had left already. Or were dead."

"No we're not dead." Washington said.

"Actually we were looking for our daugt, our trainee!" Carolina said. She almost slipped that whole Emma being their daughter deal.

"Well crap I'm sorry. Do you know what happened?"

"She's been taken by the enemy. And we don't know where she is."

Connie and York snorted awake and they heard the conversation. They stood up and decided to join them. "So what happened to the newbie?" York asked.

"Enemy captured her. They've been looking for her, but seems that their gone." Michigan informed the other agents.

"Well its a good thing that shes new. Good riddance is what I have to say." Connie added.

"She's just a kid. And they have her. Who knows what there doing, we have to help her." Washington added voice broken.

They looked over to the beaten pelican. FourSevenNiner and Texas were working hard to get it repaired. They had already informed the rest of the team that it would at least take a few more hours. Washington was worried that they enemy would be done with Emma by then. They couldn't wait around for the pelican to be repaired. They had to leave now. If only they could. Washington just took a seat somewhere away from the group.

"Man what a pansy."

"Damn it Connie have a heart!" Carolina scolded and then marched over with Washington.

"What the f**ks with her, I'm just saying."

"I know, somethings been off with those two ever since that kid showed up."

* * *

 **New Alexandria-? ? ? _ 0600 hours Reach Time**

Emma could see the sun light slowly spill into the room. Now she could see clearly with the light coming in. She managed to find a working out lit inside the room. She first stripped out the wiring and managed to find a conduit. She then took her TacPad and connected several wires into her device. If her guess was right she could bypass the firewalls to the communications and send a message to her parents. That was the theory anyway, and being trapped for several hours there wasn't much to do but think of ways to escape.

Just as she predicted hacking algorithm bypassed several security protocols and now had a direct line to communications.

"yes!" She said to herself excited. "thank you unprotected wi-fi!"

For thing was sending a signal to get an image of where she was. If she could figure out where she was, she could send the coordinates to her parents and they'd be here any minute. The picture was fuzzy at best but then it started to clear and soon enough she managed to get a sky view of Club Errera. Not her location but definitely close enough. She changed the coordinates and the screen image changed to Olympic Tower. Where her parents were and then to the hospital. With these three locations she managed to triangulate her location and the image changed. Warehouses, factories, Landing Ports. She was in the Industrial District.

"yes!" She exclaimed again.

Now with her location definite, she went to her contacts and sent the information to her dad. The process started.

 **[ Message Delivering to: _Dad_ -1% Complete]**

A few minutes passed, which felt like an eternity.

 **[ Message Delivering to: _Dad_ -2% Complete]**

"Damn it. Uncle Sarge was right, I should've changed my dumb data plan. Stupid 4G Network."

* * *

 **New Alexandria-Olympic Tower _ 0630 hours Reach Time**

They had wasted enough time standing around and having their thumbs up their asses. Carolina took one look at the nearby Falcone. It wouldn't as fast as the Pelican but anything was better then nothing.

"Hey Mitch." Carolina sounded.

"What up Car?"

"You can fly a Falcone right?"

He eyeballed the aircraft she was examining. "Sure can."

Washington watched as Michigan head towards the pilot seat of the Falcone and decided to joined them. "Whats going on?"

"We're going out there." Carolina said. "If Emma's out there we need to start looking for her instead of staying here."

Washington didn't bother responding. He made his way to one of the seats. Thats when Texas decided to check what was going on. "What the f**k are you up to."

"Our... trainee is out there and we're going to find her."

Of course Texas wasn't ready to lose three agents just to look for one newbie. "The f**k you are. We're waiting here until the ship is repaired so we can head back..."

Carolina usually ignored Texas when she tried playing boss lady, but this time Carolina wasn't having it. Washington was getting upset too. Their daughter was out there and they needed to rescue her.

"Try and stop us Texas! You can go ahead and stay but we're going out there!" Washington's response brought a shock to the rest of the crowd. Including Carolina. She joined Washington and took the seat beside him.

"You are NOT going out there, and that is an order! Mitch get back here."

Michigan looked over at Texas and then to Washington and Carolina. "Hmm, who is most likely to rat me out and put me back in jail." He started waving his finger between his two options until he walked over and hopped into the pilot seat.

"No, no get out now!" Michigan stared at her for a moment and then closed the windshield. "You prick!" was the last thing that could be heard before they flew off.


	9. Chapter 9

**April 25th 2550 _ New Alexandria-Club Errera _ 0730 hours Reach Time**

They didn't mean to fall asleep. The sunlight shined on their eyes. They had taken their helmets off just to get a little rest but in doing so they dosed off. When they woke up Carolina was resting her head on Washington shoulder. They fell sleep on the other.

"Oh sh*t, um, sorry." She said a bit embarrassed. Washington could see her blushing a little.

"No, its fine. Just a bit tired." Carolina gave a sly snicker at the situation. "Where the hell our we?"

Carolina looked over below to see the glowing building they passed by. "I think thats Club Errera. Damn after this is done, I could go for a drink."

"I second that motion." Chuckles escaped from the two.

They flew past the night club, reminding themselves to come by after they get everything settled and send Emma back to her own time. Aside from wanting to rescue their daughter, their minds started wondering if maybe they should tell, someone. Explaining the situation would be hell, but maybe they could help. However the question remained, who could they trust? York was out of the question. Maybe Texas, but Carolina wouldn't allow that. North maybe, South, no. Connie, that could be a problem, its no secret that she and Washington have had their, _romantic_ moments.

"Hey Michigan!" Carolina called out.

"Yo!" He sounded over the loudspeaker. It was strange how he was still wide awake.

"Have you been awake this whole time?" Washington asked.

"Dude, I've been awake since Tuesday."

The two in the back just shared an surprised look. "You've been awake for..."

"...yep, for three days. I am highly sleep deprived."

Same old Michigan. Maybe for now they would keep their little secret to themselves.

* * *

 **New Alexandria-Industrial District _ 0800 hours Reach Time**

During her stay, every few hours they would bring her a bowel of what they believed was food. Some kind of weird meat slope. It was inhumane. She had been feed POW food when she was captured by Covenant resistance once. That was more appetizing then this. She missed Uncle Donuts cooking.

She stared bashing on the door. "Hey I need a fork!"

"Again!" A guard heard her from down the hall. "I already gave you one awhile ago."

"Those are plastic! They keep breaking! I need a real one!"

The guard was silent for a moment. Emma could hear him approach. If he was trying to be sneaky, he wasn't doing a good job. "If I give you a real you swear not to stab me?"

Emma huffed annoyed. "I _swear_."

Again silence. This time the small drawer door opened where they gave her the slop. The guard extended his arm. "Pinky swear?"

The idiot was giving his arm. Emma could've easily taken it and break it and keep as hostage. Instead. "Pinky swear." They curled pinkys.

With the sacred oath in place the guard gave Emma a metal fork, and just to be friendly he also dropped a few packets of salt. They mini-door closed and the guard walked away. As soon as it was clear Emma got back to work. Luckily for her now she wouldn't get interrupted so she could continue working in piece. She almost felt bad about the guard. Her parents would most likely kill him once they showed up. She retrieved her TacPad to check on the progress of her message.

 **[ Message Delivering to: _Dad_ -42% Complete]**

It was moving to slow and thats why she needed the fork. It was made of stainless steel. She got to work on bending and twisting the utensil until it was just a straight piece of metal with few prongs to boost the signal. That was the theory any way. She started wrapping the any loose wiring onto the probe, that was connecting directly to the line and her TacPad. She twisting the extended prongs as to get a better signal. Once she got the sweet spot she set it down and waited.

 **[ Message Delivering to: _Dad_ -45% Complete]**

She waited a few more minutes. Twisting one more prong, just ever so slightly.

 **[ Message Delivering to: _Dad_ -48% Complete]**

She exhaled in excitement at the progress.

 **[ Message Delivering to: _Dad_ -53% Complete]**

"Come on dad. I hope your watching."

* * *

 **New Alexandria-Club Errera _ 0830 hours Reach Time**

Carolina and Washington remained seated still hovering over the metropolitan city. After several hours of searching they had come up with nothing. Michigan had already informed them that FourSevenNiner and the other were already heading back home. Just then Washington's helmet came to life with an incoming message. The message was from a _Joe Ball_?

"Who the hell is Joe Ball?" Carolina asked.

"I don't know, hey Mitch do you know a Joe Ball!?"

He gave sly snicker before answering. "Joe Ball, The Alligator Man, The Butcher of Elmendorf killed, between 6-20 people by..."

"Yeah yeah we get it. Serial Killer knows the Serial Killer."

The two focused their attention on the message which was now displayed on the monitor in front of them. A sky view image of warehouses and docking bays. Not far from where they were actually.

"Do you think this is from Emma?" Washington asked.

"It could be." Carolina responded. "Who else do you know uses Serial Killers as alias's?"

Below the image were a set of Coordinates and a specific Warehouse was highlighted.

"That must be where their holding Emma."

"Good now we can't save her and take out the bastards who took her from us." Carolina said with much anger and cracked her knuckles while doing so. "Mitch I'm sending you coordinates, take us there."

"You got it boss."

They immediately jolted toward the side as Michigan spun the Falcon toward their corrected direction. Suddenly the monitor changed and another file was added. There was a video file attached to it. They video played showing a room with two individuals inside. They realized that it was the Security Room back from the tower an the two were Illinois and Emma. And they were under attack.

Emma quickly leapt over cover just as a grenade exploded by the doors throwing Illinois back and out of view. Thats when Emma received the call.

[ _We're in trouble, Illinois's I'm all alone._ ] They could hear how scared she was. It was frightening for them too.

Just then one of the Resistance soldiers, with the robotic arm discovered where she was hiding. She raised her weapon, but it was too late. The Robo-Arm pulled her towards himself and delivered a powerful punch to the face. And then the Muscular Soldier grabbed her by the throat and slammed her to the ground, Hard. Emma screamed, terrified. [ _DADDY!_ ] and once more the soldier slammed her to the ground, maybe harder. She hurt bad, she could talk.

[ _I f**king hate these Freelancer Assholes._ ] Robo-Arm said before delivering a powerful kick to her stomach and then a second to her head. She was out cold. The video faded to black with only short message at the end. _Help Me!_

Carolina couldn't take her hands away. After seeing that, what they did to her, she understood know why Washington was so depressed. "Oh my God." She wanted to cry. Seeing that video, she didn't see Emma as the great soldier they had trained her to be, she only saw a scared little girl. "Oh no, our baby girl." Tears started slip through. She tried her best to hold them back.

Washington however was sadden from the video. He didn't feel guilty anymore. All he could feel was rage and hatred. He clenched his fist so tightly it could snap metal. "We're going to make those bastards pay for hurting her." He spoke with a cold-heartless tone that Carolina, nor anyone ha ever heard before. He was going to keep his word though. He was going to make them pay.

* * *

 **New Alexandria-Industrial District _ 0900 hours Reach Time**

Emma sat in her tiny cell waiting for her parents to arrive. From what she could tell, just from the foot traffic and the different voices that she heard coming from down the halls and the air vents, there was somewhere between 50 to 75 soldiers in the facility. Not including various ShockTroopers and the main Resistance soldiers. Her parents were the best of the best, but even she was hoping that they would bring help.

The alarm started to blare from down the hall. Soldiers started running down and toward the action. She could hear one soldier cry "Intruders! Get to battle stations!"

Her spirits were risen from the news. That had to be her parents coming to the rescue. She wanted to jump and laugh but a sudden pain surged into her head. The severe headache, it was happening again. She grabbed her head wishing for the pain to go away, but it wouldn't. Now she was hoping that they would get to her in time, she needed her medicine, and she would need it soon. The sound of the doors opening caught her off guard and in came Robo-Arm holding the metal rod in his hand.

"You dumb bitch!" He said, with an angry voice. "You called them didn't you! Now there here to rescue you huh!" Emma didn't say anything, she was too scared, she started scooting herself until she hit the back wall. Robo-Arm came closer, now with evil intentions with the metal rod. "Oh, when I'm done with you, your gonna wish you were never born!"

* * *

The door bursted open and in came Carolina kicking down a ShockTrooper and then shooting down two more with head shots. She past down the hall making sure it was clear of hostiles. She made a bee line for a nearby room and and fired three shots dropping two more soldiers. A mini armory, just a few handguns and SMG's, nothing special. She past through the room and found herself at an intersection. A map was displayed on the wall showing the different routes to the several floors. She made a quick look over until she found the one she was looking for. Holding cells.

"Wash." She called on the radio. "I cleared the second floor, and I think I know where there holding Emma."

[" _Third floors clear too, I'm on my way._ "] He responded.

Carolina made one more look at the map and headed down the hall. before she could reach the elevator, another soldier appeared from behind and raised his gun to her head.

"Hold it there bitch!" There was no way for Carolina to reach him without taking a bullet. She just stood still, waiting for back up. "Thats right, now turn around slo-." The sound of a shotgun blocked out his voice. For a minute, Carolina had her eyes closed, trying to make sure if she was dead or not. She turned around and opened her eyes to see a soldier wearing black armor.

"Texas?"

Texas pumped her shotgun loading the next shell in. "Looks like I saved you again."

"What the hell are you doing here!?"

"Well, after you guys refused to follow orders I thought to myself maybe you **were** on to something. Figured I could help."

Carolina really wanted to tell her to f**k off right now but Emma was in danger, and if she could help, then she would suffer through it. "Fine! Just make sure you don't get in our way!"

Before Texas could respond Carolina stormed off down the hall. She followed behind. Together they managed to take down any enemy soldiers that were in there way, running down the several flights of stairs until they made their way to the fifth floor. The spree came to a halt when they crossed in intersection. No markings, plates, or signs showing the different ways. If only Carolina could remember the map.

"Damn it, I should've taken a picture of that map!"

Taking a best guess, the two agents took the left hallway. They didn't make two steps before being stopped by another enemy soldier. "Hey! Hold It!" He called out.

"Damn it! You didn't see him coming!?"

"F**k you, I was following you."

"Hey keep your mouths shut!" The soldier shouted again.

"F**k that! When did you ever start listening to me!"

"Hey I said keep your mouths sh-" He was interrupted by suddenly being thrown and pressed against the wall. Washington was holding him against the wall by the throat. When he spoke, it was in a voice that Carolina nor Texas had ever heard before.

"Where is she!" he demanded with anger, and hatred.

Now the soldier was terrified. "What! Who are you talking about!"

"The girl they brought in! Where is she, where are the holding cells!"

"Uh, uh, there! Down that hallway! Just please don't hur-" He was interrupted again, this time with a bullet to the head. Washington turned around to see yet another soldier with a gun. Apparently he missed Washington and shot his teammate. "Aww sh*t!"

Washington dropped the dead one and ran towards the second who fired a second shot. Washington managed to dodge it, and upper-cutted the soldier. He kicked him against the wall and finally finished him off by grabbing his head and snapping his neck. Washington didn't care, and just turned around and went down the directed hallway. Carolina followed closely, leaving Texas in a shaken state from what she just witnessed. "F**k Wash." She didn't bother following them, but didn't understand why they were heading down to the Holding Cells. "Where are you going?"

"We're going to save Emma." Carolina responded.

"What! The f**king rookie?"

"She's not just a rookie!" Was all Carolina had to say before continuing down the hall.

"What the f**k is with those guys."

* * *

Another hard swing with the metal rod sent Emma to her knees again. Her back burned with pain, as Robo-Arm slammed his torture tool, to her back again, making Emma fall to the ground completely. The blows to her back were no where near as painful as her head. It felt like her head was going to explode. Still, with the Robotic arms hydraulic enhancements, the metal rod felt like seven tons smashing against her spine.

"Tell me what I want to know! Now!"

She moved her hands to her head, trying to keep the pain at bay but her head burned. She could hear a high pitch sound, deafening her hearing. She looked back up and saw the door slid open again, this time to Robo-Arms surprise. When he turned around he was welcomed to a powerful punch to the gut and then the face, but the attacker wasn't done yet, he grabbed him and pulled him back outside to finish him off. Another surge of pain shot through her skull. She shut her eyes wishing for the pain to just go away. She wanted it to end.

All of a sudden she could someone grabbing her. She wanted to attack but her muscles were cramped, and her head was ready to explode. She felt her body shift, but now she was in a sitting position and being carried. She felt a gentle hand stroking her hair. She opened her eyes and could see a pair of frightened green eyes staring back at her

"Emma, Emma don't worry. You'll be okay." Carolina. Her mother was holding her. She wanted to praise her but the pain was too much. She wanted to scream. "Don't worry, it'll be okay. You'll be okay." She tried to tell her that she needed to her serum now. She could feel her brain melting inside.

"Wash hurry! She's burning up!"

And on cue in came her father running in with two syringes. One was shattered, spilling its contents all over the floor. Luckily he brought the other one. "I've got it here!" Washington said and ran to Emma and Carolina's side.

Emma pointed to stick the needle into the bulging vein that was ready to burst. Washington didn't want to hurt her, but he didn't have a choice. He stuck needle into the target area. The serum swarmed through her veins. She could feel sweet relief as the serum made quick work. The pain subsided and her motion and vision had been restored. She was now surrounded by her parents. Carolina smiled and hugged her tightly. "Mom!" She exclaimed, and hugged her back.

The happy tone of the three came too a frightening silent when they saw the person at the door. Clad in Black Armor. "Uh, why in the hell did she call you mom?"


	10. Chapter 10

**April 25th 2550 _ Mother of Invention-Hanger Bay _ 1330 hours Reach Time**

The flight back home was silent at best. More so awkward then anything else. Texas couldn't keep what she heard out of her head. For one thing she couldn't even begin to imagine Carolina being a mother, the next thing was the fact that this kid couldn't have been any younger then 18. That in itself was strange.

They could feel the Mother of Inventions artificial gravity as they entered the ships hanger. Carolina could just swear that Texas would immediately tell everyone about this. "Texas, listen. Let us just explain."

"I don't want to hear it! I don't really want to now." She said and then stormed out of the ship.

They all climbed out of the ship and watched as she stormed off to most likely spread the word. "Nice seeing you again aunty Texas." Emma called.

Texas froze in place and turned around. Emma just gave an innocent smiled and waved at her not really caring about the awkward situation. Texas shook her head and started rubbing her temple, mostly likely trying to fight off whatever migraine was starting to build up.

"You think she'll say anything?" Washington asked.

"Doesn't matter." Carolina answered and gently stroked Emma's hair back. "We're all safe and back together. Thats all that matters."

"Yeah. Thanks again for saving my life I guess. Man I really need to stop being kidnapped." Emma said.

The three walked towards the doors leading out of the hanger just as they noticed their fellow agent, and Sociopath, Michigan enter with a mysterious crate. Most likely the crate he mentioned back at the tower. They walked over to check on him, mostly just to know what was in the boxes.

"Hey Mitch. Good seeing you" Carolina said first.

"Likewise. Check out this stuff I borrowed." He replied.

" _Borrowed_." Emma commented to herself. Michigan started to shuffle through the box. "I hope you brought me something pretty." Michigan smirked and then tossed her one of the strange weapons. As soon as it landed in her gauntleted hands, it glowed, active. "Wooow."

Michigan tossed Washington and Carolina the same handgun which spawned the same reaction. "Its light. Doesn't feel alien."

"You see that thing in the bottom. That would be the magazine. And this would be the sights. Most likely holographic." Michigan explained the weapon to the best of his abilities. Any gun-nut would understand but just to make things simple... "-In other words, VERY expensive."

Washington gave an impressed whistle at the gun. "What can we do with these?"

"I know a guy. We could get a decent price for these." Michigan responded.

"Ohh I want a cut of that action." Emma spoke up with a look in her eye.

Right before they could get things in motion Carolina stopped the whole thing. "What! No. We can't go off selling classified and dangerous weapons that even we don't know about." Michigan just responded with a dead stare showing no emotion. This was one of his several responses. Quite disturbing but at least it got his point across. "I want a 30% cut."

"20."

"25."

"Done." They shook hands and parted ways. "Oh and take this." Michigan tossed Emma one of the rifles he managed to sneak off before the Freelancer men took them away. "Consider it as a late Baby Shower gift."

The three stood there frozen from his response. He didn't at all seem surprised about their situation. "Uh, what do you mean Mitch?" Washington responded nervously.

"What I want to know was why wasn't I invited to the wedding. Or unless it was unplanned which I understand but she still seemed okay, but still. I could've made a good God-Father." Again, silence. "Do you have any baby pictures?"

"How did you know that their my parents?" Emma finally managed to snap out of her shocked state and asked the question.

"I know everything." was his only response and he just walked away, trying to look cool, badass, and mysterious until he realized that he made a wrong turn. "Doors this way."

After another few seconds, Washington and Carolina finally managed to snap out of there shock and started making there way towards the door again. Now there were two people on board that knew their secret, that could only spawn more trouble, but at least they felt comfort knowing that the other person was Michigan. Being a close friend to Washington, they were confident that he'd keep that to himself.

* * *

 **Mother of Invention-Mess Hall _ 1400 hrs Reach Time**

They sat down at a table with treys of food ready to have another nice, _family_ , meal together, but the same annoying question was hanging over the two older agents again. The medication they gave to Emma before she could melt down. For all they knew that was just her suffering from withdraw from not having her _fix_. They shared a nervous look which Emma quickly caught on. They were really glad the Mess Hall was empty aside from them.

"Whats the matter? Last time I saw those looks I was five and you told me we were moving." She said.

"Was it really bad?"

"To Blood Gulch."

"Oh."

"Okay fine, Emma we need to know." Carolina said almost pained and pulled out the syringe that Emma had forgotten. "Wash said you used this in the bathroom the other day." Emma's faced changed. More pained and guilty at the piece of evidence. "Please tell us Emma. What is this?"

Emma looked down at her at her plate of food. Her appetite just suddenly gone. She wanted to tell them but she knew they would only freak out. it wasn't like she had a choice anyways. "I was diagnosed when I was four." She said.

"Dia-diagnosed with what? Depression? Anxiety?"

"For starters. I suffer from Anxiety, Depression, ADHD, Bipolar, Paranoia, Autism, Dementia, Schizophrenia, and a whole lot other mental stuff." She looked up to see the shocked look on their faces. It was painful having to explain something she was going through, especially something even she didn't fully understand. "I pretty much have to suffer through alot, ALOT of mental issues."

"But why, what happened?" Carolina finally responded. Washington covered his face unable to even think about the possible explanations for this. The first and worst thing that came was of course the obvious. "Wash whats wrong?"

"Oh my God." He said painfully. "What, did we do things to you? Did we, hurt you? Abuse you or anything? Were we that bad as parents?"

His questions brought even a shocked reaction from Emma, who quickly shot the down the accusations. "What! No no. There was no abuse or anything like that. No beating or abuse or anything." Her response brought some relief to the two but their was still unevenness from all this. "You guys were the greatest parents ever. Of all time. You guys loved me."

"Then why are you going through this?" Carolina asked.

Emma breathed a heavy sigh. "When I was born the doctors said that I was, _special_ in a way. They discovered that I have denser skin tissue, higher muscle density, reinforced skeletal structure, heightened senses, and a higher functioning brain capacity. And all natural too."

"Your like the ideal super-soldier." Carolina said in disbelief.

"Yeah. But because of that and at my young age, my senses would become too heightened, eventually I'd suffer sensory overload. Everything becomes, white-noise, I go blind, my muscles begin to contract, I have no control of my body, I feel my brain melting and, well, ultimately..." She stopped. They already knew what they finally outcome would be. And that was death. "... Slow and painfully."

She felt like crying, she had suffered through this for most of her life, but now it suddenly became apparent that without her medication, she will die. What kind of four year old should have to go through that. She could feel her mother wrap her arms around her. She missed her mothers hugs. "My baby girl." She said quietly. She missed being called that too. Even when she was fifteen and already fully trained and going on missions.

"Is that why your with the UNSC? Because of your natural enhancements?"

"Thankfully no. Besides I'm more of a liability then an asset." She huffed a deep breath, more relaxed now at remembering home. "Actually we're not with the UNSC. We're part of the Colonial Military of Chrous. Thats where home really is. For the most part."

Carolina and Washington were now more relaxed, but also confused now. Neither one had of such name. "I've never heard of Chrous."

"Yeah well, no one has. But you guys are a big deal there. And for clear reasons I can't disclose information about the future. And before you ask, becoming a soldier was MY choice. I wanted to be a soldier."

The two took some time to slowly adjust and take in this new information. It was horrifying knowing just how much she had gone through since she was a little girl, but looking at her now. She's eighteen now, and she's still healthy, smart, fast, strong, but still living. And despite her current situation, she seemed happy.

"This is all just a lot of information too take in. We're just glad you finally told us."

"And we're just glad your okay. This is just all, insane."

"No, I'm actually insane. Just like you dad." She said with a light laugh and took a bite out of her pizza. Now realizing that she was in fact starving. Washington didn't say much he just ignored the comment and went back to eating just as the doors opened and in came a flock of other Freelancers.

"Wait a minute I'm **insane** in the future?"

A passing South chuckled and kept on walking by. "The future? Try these days. Psycho."

* * *

The awkwardness past moments later and so they continued eating their meals. For the following ten minutes they sat their eating and sharing stories about good times. Some that even Emma didn't know about. They managed to keep up the whole Emma-being-the-newbie act when some of the other agents decided to join them. After which they parted ways and exited into the halls. it was all good so far until they ran into Texas in the hallways. Another awkward situation.

"Oh hey Texas."

"Oh my God. I don't have time for this." So much for a conversation. "What I still don't understand is how can..." She made sure that no one was near by. At least she was being cautious. "...how is your daughter even here. You would have had to been...Its not possible!"

"We have an explanation."

"Then explain!"

The three shared a nervous look. Its not like she would believe it anyways. They could see Texas was becoming more patient and so Emma said. "I'm from the future! I'm their daughter from the future."

Her face contorted to more confused. "Wait Time Travel, really?"

"Its true, I am."

"Okay then, tell me something about me. Hows my future? Do I make General? Do I ever meet my Prince Charming? Do I have kids?"

"Well I can say that you and Leonard are happier."

That response brought Texas such shock. No one even knew Texas had a boyfriend or that she was even capable of passion. "How did you know about..."

"Like I said, future."

Silence filled the hall. The only thing that sounded was footsteps down the hall of some guards escorting one of the captured ShockTroopers. A very angry looking one. The look on her face said that she was confused, upset, maybe hungry but other then that she looked disbelief.

"So what now? You planning on telling anyone?" Carolina asked worried.

Texas just gave a loud huff. "Like anyone would believe me. This whole future-kid-from-the-future hurts my brain but for now I guess..."

The ShockTrooper broke free from the soldiers grasp, took his sidearm and took aim for Texas. Carolina spotted him just as he drew his weapon. She barley had time to respond. "TEXAS!" She jumped just as the shot sounded. Carolina pushed Texas out of the way, saving her life, but taking the bullet. She collapsed in pain, clutching her wound. It burned and sizzled like her skin was being devoured.

"Mom! Come on you'll be okay." Emma dropped to her mothers side worried for her life. "Mom please."

Texas watched as Carolina lied on the ground but now saw that her wound changed color into a sickly green and the pained look on her face was changing. It looked numbed, fading. That wasn't an ordinary bullet. What happened next was the most shocking. Washington witnessed what happened and set his sights on the ShockTrooper. He charged at him, tackling him down and punching him over and over again. She heard a cracking sound as Washington continued to crush his skull. He was completely feral.

* * *

 **Mother of Invention-Medical Wing _ 1845 hrs Reach Time**

Four hours had past since the attack and so far Carolina hadn't showed much in recovering. The Medics discovered that the bullet was laced with some kind of poison. Slowly killing Carolina's body. York, frantic about the whole thing, left with Connie, South and North. They headed down to Reach back to the Facility looking for more information. Hopefully a cure.

Emma hadn't left her mothers side. She stayed resting her head on her lap and holding her hand. she refused to leave he side. Texas watched from outside the window along side Washington. She had never seen him like this. First a hardcore brawler down on Reach, then going feral only hours later, and now, he looked afraid. Afraid of losing Carolina.

"Anything new?" She asked, but she already knew the answer.

"No. Whatever's inside her is still killing her." Carolina's face was frighteningly pale. "We just saved Emma and now... we can't lose her too."

Texas never really felt remorse for any pain she caused to Carolina, they weren't exactly friends, but seeing her like this, dying. She looked back at Washington, the look in his eyes. "You really love her don't you."

He didn't admit it, but he didn't deny it either. "Its, its... I don't know how to answer that." Of course he cared about her. He cared about everyone, and worried about everyone, but this was different. Maybe he did love her, he just didn't know it yet.

One of the doctors approached them. "Excuse me, Agent Texas I need to speak with you." Texas followed him leaving Washington. He wished he could go in there. Tell Emma that everything was going to be alright. He just didn't know how. Anyway he thought of just seemed like a lie. He couldn't lie to her.

"Wash!" Texas called. The look on her face seemed frantic but also excited. "You gotta listen!" Washington followed.

Emma was starting to feel a bit to worrisome. Being in here with her dying mother wouldn't make things easier. She stepped outside for a moment trying to catch a breath that wasn't interrupted with crying.

"Hey there Emma." She turned to see Illinois walking up to her. In a way she was happy to see he was alright. "So how are you doing?"

"I could be better. I'm just worried for Agent Carolina."

"You seemed a little too attached. Is there anything else between you two?" The thought crossed about them being secret lovers but he wasn't ready to ask that. That would be stupid.

Emma turned back to see Carolina and then back to Illinois. She couldn't tell him, but she had to say something. "The truth is, I've known Carolina my whole life, since I was a little kid. She's kind of like family to me."

Technically she was telling the truth. Not an entire lie. she could find comfort in that. "I get it. I do. Well you don't have to worry. Carolina's as tough as hey come, she pull through." Emma smiled at his words. When he wasn't trying to be smooth and giving pick up lines he was a pretty nice guy. Kind of cute too.

"Thank you Illinois." She took a step forward and gave him a quick hug before going back into the room. It was a shame that back in her time he was in his late thirties. And dead, as far as she knew.

* * *

Texas and Washington entered the ward adjacent to Carolina's. They took seats and waited for the Doctor to continue. "Go ahead Doctor tell him what you told me."

"Well, we analyzed the ammunition on the weapons that were apprehended by Agent Michigan. Their not normal, conventional weapons. Each bullet is specially crafted and has a internal compartment containing a highly dangerous toxin."

Everything was gibberish to Washington and so far nothing was about saving her life. "What does that have to do with anything?!"

He was becoming more aggressive. Texas intervened. "We think these weapons are properly made for most likely Assassinations, or high risk hostiles."

"Correct." The doctor agreed. "This toxin would slowly kill the target before they even realized that they were poisoned. And luckily we have plenty of the toxin to analyze its components. Its a highly dangerous compound called _Thorium_."

"Okay then! Then wheres the cure."

The look on the doctors face became more fascinated. Excited. "We have everything we need right her on board. We're only missing one crucial thing." Now his face was more contorted.

"Which is...?"

"Blood. And lots of it. And the same kind as Agent Carolina's, O Negative."

Without breaking a sweat Washington stood up and walked over to the station where the procedure would be taking place. He started stripping his armor off. "Well then lets stopping wasting time. Come on dig in."

Again the doctors face contorted and shocked now. "Sir, to synthesize a cure, just enough for one patient, we going to need A LOT of blood. Ever more so then you..."

"I don't f**king care! We'll do what it takes to save Carolina!"

Texas wasn't sure if it was Washington's bravado or her new found sympathy for Carolina. Maybe it was that girl Emma and them being her parents but she couldn't stop herself from volunteering as well. "Fine I'll help!" She too stripped her armor and took the seat next too Washington.

"Um Agent Texas..."

"Quit stalling and cut us open!" The doctor turned didn't speak anymore and started on the procedure. Washington turned to her confused. Why was she helping Carolina all of a sudden. "What? She saved my life. If I do this we're even. "


	11. Chapter 11

**April 25th 2550 _ Mother of Invention-Medical Wing _ 2130 hrs Reach Time**

She slowly opened her eyes as the bright light blinded her. Carolina could only feel pain and misery. And not just because she was shot. She tried to move a little but felt as though she was being held down, mostly from the distant pain. The doctors most likely gave her lots of drugs to combat the pain or whatever else was in her system. She could feel something holding her hand. She turned to her side and saw Washington sleeping beside her. His face was so pale and he held her hand. She liked it. She closed her hand around his. He suddenly stirred and his eyes opened.

"Carolina. Your finally awake."

Seeing him brought great relief. More so then she expected. "Hey Wash. _Ugh_ , what happened?"

"You sort of saved Texas's life, and got poisoned doing so."

The one time she did something for that Black-Armored Bitch and she gets poisoned. What are the odds. She grunted. "Wow. Looks like I'm never doing her favors ever again." She gave a strained laugh before groaning. It hurt to laugh. "What happened to you? Your so-"

"-Pale? Yeah that happens when you give a lot of blood."

The look on her face changed to quizzical. "Wait why?"

"The docs said it was the only way to make a cure. To give a sh*t load of blood."

"Wash, you didn't have to do that. That was dangerous..."

"You were going to die. It was the only way to save you." He lost his smile when he said that. He looked more frightened and worried. She had never seen him like this so it was quite the surprise. "I couldn't let that happen. We didn't want to lose you."

She didn't say anything else after that. She stayed quiet, only reached out and held his hand tighter. A smile came to her face. "Thank you. For saving me." Washington returned the smile and held onto her hand. She didn't know what it was, but she didn't want to let go, she just wanted to stay here with him just all quiet with no worries. "Where's Emma?" She asked.

Washington motioned to the other side and there was Emma sleeping, her head resting beside her mother. Carolina couldn't help but gently stroke her brown hair. The gentle act was enough to awaken her and when she raised her head she nearly leapt at the sight of her mother, now awake. "Mom!" She cried and hugged her tightly. "I was so scared." She could feel streams of tears go down her skin.

Carolina wrapped her arms around her, and calmed her down. "Its okay baby. We're all okay know." She finally got off her and Carolina gently rubbed away the tears off Emma's now reddened eyes. "Its okay Emma. Its not the first time I've been hospitalized."

The uplifted response brought a smile to Emma's face. Until she looked up to see her father. "Dad why are you so pale?"

* * *

 **April 26th 2550 _ Mother of Invention-Freelancer Barracks _ 0500 hours Reach Time**

The doctors implored for Carolina to remain in the ward for more hours until she fully recovered. She wouldn't have it, and just stormed off. She groaned with every step she took from the pain. Apparently walking around after nearly poisoned to death was painful. As soon as she collapsed in bed she was fast asleep. Several hours later she couldn't stop herself from waking up. She checked the clock, only 5:00 a.m. She silently groaned to herself. She tried to scoot until she felt something tug. She looked to see an arm holding her. Washington was still asleep and holding her closely. She couldn't help but smile, feeling how close he was made her feel secure and safe. She turned around and snuggled closer to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and quickly felt exhaustion again. She planted a soft kiss on his cheek before falling back to sleep.

7:00 came around. The sound of footsteps passing by the halls woke Washington from his sleep. He came to the surprise of Carolina sleeping so close. He had forgotten wrapping his arm around her. Now she was sleeping closely against him. It was like the last time, she looked peaceful and beautiful again. He didn't want to let go. He couldn't help but slowly move the locks of hair out of her face. She smiled. Her eyes slowly opened and when their eyes met, it grew bigger. "morning." She quietly whispered.

"morning to you too." He whispered "How'd you sleep?"

"better then last time." She responded and gave a small snicker. He loved that snicker.

They couldn't break eye contact. Just like in the ward only hours before, their eyes locked not wanting to look away. Her green eyes and his blue eyes dared not to look away. At this time they realized they, maybe they did love each other. Only time would tell.

Their moment was interrupted when they heard a loud sudden snort come from across the room. They turned to see Emma sudden jerk in a direction and snort again. " _ehhh_ , _Caboose_ , _five more minutes_." She murmured and then turned clutching her pillow so tightly it was on the verge of exploding. " _I don't care that Freckles got out._ " The parents couldn't help but quietly chuckle.

"she gets that from you." Carolina said.

"oh f**k off."

A knock on the door brought silence to the entire room. Emma snorted again from the banging only this time she remained awake. Another knock again. Washington, almost regretfully, got out of bed to answer the disturbance. He opened the door and it was Connie. He was about to ask what she wanted when he remembered that this was her room.

"Oh uh, hey Connie. Been a good morning?" He said. The door was only cracked open.

"Well it would be, if you know, I actually got to sleep in my own bed." She said with much annoyance. "What are you doing in my room?"

"Oh uh, I just came in to see how Carolina was doing. She's doing better by the way"

"Did you by any chance sleep here?" She said accusingly.

"What no." Washington was never a good lier. "Why would you say that?"

"Because I had to bunk in your room with York." She strained to stretch her back. "By the way, your bed is like a cinderblocks. Can I see Carolina?"

"Um she's not.. decent."

"What do you mean ' _not decent_ '?" She asked only this time more upset.

Washington was dead silent. Not the best choice of words to say to your friend, you used to be close to about another woman whose room you were in. Luckily for him. Carolina came to the rescue and peeked her head through. "Hey Connie. How's the morning been for you?" She asked nervously.

This only spawned more questions from their friend. Her head just kept twitching from imagining different possible scenarios. All of which brought headaches and finally came up with the same conclusion. "Were you guys f**king!?" She said almost pained.

Both Carolina and Washington's faces were embarrassed and shocked at the same time "The f**k, no! We weren't f**king." They opened the door all the way to prove their point. They were both fully clothed. No scuffs or signs of hastily trying to put their clothes back on.

"How could you even ask that?!"

"Don't try to pin this on me, ever since that damn kid showed up you two have been acting weird."

Just then a defiant Emma emerged from behind. "Hey lay off. Its not their fault everything is going to hell." She had hoped her appearance would help but only it complicated things more.

"What. The f**k. Is going on."

Silence was there only response. They couldn't come up with an answer and with the discovery of Emma sleeping in the same room as them, it sort of blew the whole Emma's-a-rookie story. The only thing they could do is stand their with open mouths. Carolina turned to the others with the same shocked expression as they all had. it seemed as though they had were finally caught, yet again. Only this time, they knew that Connie would tell. She was some what of a gossip girl, especially with something as juicy as this. "Tell the other agents to gather in the Rec. Room. We''ll tell you everything." With that being said, Carolina shut the door in front of her friend. A moment passed until they heard Connie's footsteps, indicating that she had now walked away.

"Carolina what are you thinking?!"

"What I'm thinking is that I just saved us a whole lot of trouble." Nothing but confusion. "Connie caught us. Even if she doesn't know yet, she will find out eventually."

"So then what Mom?"

Carolina gave a heavy huff. They didn't like the sound of that. "Lets just rip off the bandage. Yank out the knife." Just a tilt of the head was their response. "Lets just tell everyone."

* * *

 **Mother of Invention-Freelancer Rec. Room _ 0730 hrs Reach Time**

Just as they predicted, the other agents were all gathered in the rec. room as instructed by Carolina. They were nervous about this whole situation. Of course they would be with something this big. Washington tried to talk her out of this but to no avail. Just as Emma always knew, her mother always got the finally say in things. 90% of the time.

They could already hear the obnoxious discussion between Illinois and his poor victim. "And so then Light tricks FBI agent in to thinking he's _Kira_ and makes him write down all the names of the FBI agents, and the Shinigami is like, ' _what the f**k are you doing Light?_ ' "

"Wait hold up, what the f**k is a Sh*tty-gami?"

"In Lore, a Shinigami is a God of Death."

"Hold up wait, so this kid, Light, (Whatever the f**k that name is) just out right tells this FBI agent that he's working with a Death God..." They realized that it was York.

"No no no, they don't say that out right. He tells him he has this magical power, because he has the NoteBook..."

"Man this is why I hate Anime. It never makes f**king sense. Like that last one you told me, about the girl who wears Uber-Armor, but she looks like a f**king cosplaying porn star."

Illinois now insulted, sat back with his arms crossed. "Man, you just insulted a part of my heritage."

"Your herita, damn it Roy your f**king Korean." York said more agitated at his friend. "Why am I the only one who has to deal with sh*t. Not even Mitch deals with this."

"Come on dude you can at least give _Kill la Kill_ a chance..."

"You shut your face, York!" South intervened. "Kill la Kill is the best."

"Well I wouldn't give that, but I will agree, its up there with Attack on Titan and Fullme-"

York grabbed his head from a major headache. "Oh my God, why am I friends with an Anime nerd!"

Enough time had been taken up, also they couldn't stand hearing anymore about anime. Carolina, Washington, and Emma had walked in and stood in front of their fellow Freelancers. Emma sat down while her parents remained standing. The room went silent and all eyes were on them. They could see the look on Texas's face. Confused, uncertain, and had a kind of ' _what are you doing_ ' look to her. Michigan, well he was Michigan.

"Alright so what did you call us for?"

"I was in the middle of playing _Fallout 4_ you assholes. What do you want?" Typical South.

There responses were completely gone. All three were drawing blanks. They could all see the confusion on their faces. "I'm starting to assume that this was waste of time."

Emma finally snapped out of the silence. "Wait. Okay, we know that you guys have been wondering about me. Am I right?" She asked.

"Who the f**k are you? Are you Charlie, or Al." South asked.

"Well the truth is, my real name is Emma and I'm from the future."

Jaws dropped and confusion. Reactions that weren't much surprise to them. " _Right_. And I'm a _Wonder Woman_."

"Guys."

"And I'm _Spider-Man_."

"Guys! She's telling the truth. She really is from the future."

Moans and groans sounded throughout the room. A couple of _bullsh*t_ 's, but that wasn't surprising. "Come on seriously you believe that she's from the future?"

"She's told us everything about just about everyone here. Like for example: South..."

"Oh no, don't go there Wash."

"South, secretly watches all the Pixar movies. And cries her eyes out."

All eyes went to the bitchy twin. Complete shock on her face. "You Mother F*ker!" South tried to leap at him only to be stopped by her brother. She sat back down now more pissed off at Washington more then ever. Seeing the snickering looks on her friends faces, she went from anger changed to embarrassed, instantly. "Those are emotional movies, I'm not a machine! Besides how in the f**k do you know that."

Emma felt a little ashamed about telling them that. It was a close guarded secret between the two of them. "You sort of told me when I was a kid. More like I watched ball up at the end of _Monsters Inc._ "

"She'll never see Sully again, how could you not cry at the end of that."

Despite the fact that now everyone knew about South's dirty little secret some of the others still weren't believing. It took some convincing and a few secrets being told, but eventually the rest of the agents finally believed that Emma was from the future. York had his head in his hands because he couldn't bare to see the eyes on him.

"Okay is it that bad that maybe I liked a Justin Bieber son..."

"YES!"

"Its garbage dude!"

He groaned and put his head back down. So this was from the future. That was apparent, but now the same question remained...

"Okay we get it she's from the future. So then whats she doing here anyway?"

"I came here because, because..." Now came the harder part. How in the hell were they supposed to say that...

"Emma is our daughter. From the future." Apparently just like that. Carolina just said it, like ripping off a band-aid. Just silence and dead stares. Everything else didn't seem to matter as much, now considering they had been hanging out with _their_ daughter. The look on their faces.

"So wait your saying she's your daughter?" York finally snapped out.

"Yes York, she's our daughter." Washington answered.

"But I thought you said she was _your_ daughter, Carolina?"

"Yes, she is York. _Our_ daughter!"

"But wait, I thought she was your daughter Wash." This was clearly going nowhere. No matter how many times they answered, he couldn't get it through his head.

"Oh my God, I'm _their_ daughter!"

"But, I thought you said she was your daughter Carol.."

"Damn it York! We're trying to tell you..."

"Hold on a minute Wash." Illinois spoke up. He started waving his hand in front of his friends face. Not a single reaction from him.

"York whats the capitol of Lichtenstein?"

"...So what your saying is that she's your daughter, Wash."

Stunning silence. "Oh my God, you broke York." Illinois waved his hand in front of him again. Still no response.


	12. Chapter 12

**April 26th 2550 _ Mother of Invention-Mess Hall _ 0830 hours Reach Time**

The all regrouped in the Mess Hall again fora late breakfast. Carolina, Washington and Emma sat at the table by themselves. They watched as the other agents filed into the Mess Hall, their eyes falling on the them. At that moment, they were starting to believe it was a mistake. It was too late now. Now all the other Freelancers knew that Emma was Washington and Carolina's daughter.

"I'm starting to think this was a bad idea." Emma said. "They just keep looking at us."

"Well they're just gonna have to deal with it." Carolina said.

They sat there quietly eating their poor excuse for a breakfast while the others watched. They could feel the occasional set of eyes starring at them and then quickly looking away.

"This is seriously creepy."

"Your telling me." A wild Michigan caught them by surprise. They didn't see or hear him sit down beside Washington. "I haven't felt this watched since I was in prison."

"Wait how did, I didn't hear you coming! How did you do that?!" Emma asked.

Texas took the seat opposite of Carolina. "Its best you don't ask kid. No one knows how he does that. Its creepy."

"I'm not that creepy."

"You are a little man." Washington commented.

They sat their eating for a few minutes and continued eating. However there was something that continued to bother Texas. It was what Emma called her. When they came back to the Mother of invention, she called her "Aunty Texas". What the hell was that about?

"Hey kid!"

"My names Emma."

"Yeah okay, Emma. Why did you call me aunty?"

"Yeah that was bothering me too." Washington brought up. "Why'd you call her your aunt?"

Emma took a deep breath, this was be awhile. "Well. For one thing, when I was little, both mom and her have red hair, and plus you two are such great friends, I thought you two were sisters."

"Sister?"

"Wait did you say we're _friends_?!" Carolina said with much surprise.

"Well yeah. In fact I've been meaning to ask you. Why are you guys so hostile towards each other?"

It was just a simple question and yet neither Carolina nor Texas could answer. They just stared at each other unevenly. They kept opening their mouths but the only thing they managed was to exhale.

"Lets just say its complicated." Washington finally spoke up.

"Yeah thats a word for it." Michigan added.

Short chuckles sounded amongst their table. Emma stood up heading for the door. "If you excuse me I need to use the bathroom." Washington and Carolina looked up at her with worries and open mouths. "Don't worry, I'm good for another few hours." She just said and walked out.

* * *

Emma walked out and headed down the hall. By now she had figured out her way around the ship, at least this level. Finding the bathroom wouldn't be much of a problem.

She was lucky she didn't have another melt down like before. She quickly washed her hands and exited the bathroom. Thats when she bumped into Connie. Literally bumped into her. Smacked dead in the face.

"Ow! F**k!" Connie remarked. "Whats your forehead made of, concrete?"

"Crap! I'm sorry Ms. Connie, I'm so sorry!"

Connie rubbed her know bruised forehead. She made a quick peek in the mirror to see if her nose was bleeding. It wasn't. Emma followed Connie out, apologizing more as she followed her.

"Oh my God, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to run into you like that. I'm very sorry."

"Okay okay, its fine. I'm fine." She said. "Just please, stop apologizing."

"Okay then I'm sorry. Ah crap said it again."

Connie continued down the hall. She was gonna stop by the lounge for a quick drink. After the events of just a few hours ago, she really needed a drink. Even if it was still breakfast. She made a quick turn around only to almost run into Emma, face first again.

"Whoa!"

"Oop sorry!"

"Why are you following me?"

"Well, I kinda wanted to ask you, you seem kind of upset. Why?"

Of course she would be upset. Meeting her, Washington's daughter from the future. His and _Carolina's_! Why wouldn't she be upset. "Its nothing okay! I'm, I'm fine."

Emma could tell she wasn't. If anything, she was sad. "Whats wrong? We've been friends since I was a kid, you could tell me anything."

Connie turned to face her and tell her off. She took one look into her eyes . She saw only innocence. Someone that wasn't as broken or corrupted like they all were. Washington and Carolina really raised her good.

"Hey answer me this. Is Wash... your dad, happy?"

Emma knew where that was coming from. She understood why she was saddened and sympathized her. "Yes he is. But he still thinks of you sometimes. Just like how my mom still thinks of York. But we're all happy together." That response wasn't surprising. It didn't make it any easier but she was at least glad he was happy. Besides, she seemed like a great kid. "And we've all gotten along over the years. Considering what happened."

"Considering what? What happened?"

"York kidnapped me."

"He KIDNAPPED YOU!"

"I was only seven."

They were passing by the Red. Room while they were walking and talking. He was still frozen, still in shock. Illinois was trying his best to snap him out of. He started swinging his arm, preparing York's _Hard awakening._

"Alright buddy. This is gonna sting a little."

He swung again, then again, then again, and finally smacked him as hard as he could. With a loud crack.

"Alright pal, you good?"

"So what your saying is, she's your daughter."

"Son of bitch!" Illinois remarked.

"Don't worry Roy, I got this." Connie said. She breathed into her hands, rubbed them together and readied herself. She threw a practice swing, then another, then another and then grabbed a random cricket bat and bashed the side of his head with a powerful swing, throwing him to the floor. He was definitely awake now.

"!OWW!" York remarked. Still on the ground "!WHAT THE F**K!"

Illinois took a step back to make sure he wouldn't feel Connie's sudden wraith. "Well thats one way to wake him up." He remarked.

Connie just tossed the cricket bat and walked out of the room with Emma close behind. "There, that was for you."

Emma raised a brow at the unnecessary attack. "You did help rescue me."

"Oh. Well you could've said that before."

"Would you still have hit him?"

"Probably."

* * *

 **Mother of Invention-Training Arena _ 1030 hours Reach Time**

The agents were starting to all get over the fact that Washington and Carolina's daughter was from the future. Some more then others but slowly but surely, people were starting to get used to this. A few of them asked her questions and she managed to answer them to the best of her abilities. At least without compromising the fabric of time and space. Or saying that they were dead.

She was currently in a session with Michigan. Pugil Stick match. Michigan was pretty good with melee weapons, but he was fighting Carolina and Washington's daughter. Everyone knew that Carolina was the best, but he and a few other knew what Washington was really capable of. So Emma was probably like a living weapon of mass destruction. They took their positions and spared.

The parents and Texas were watching from above. They were pretty anxious about letting her spare but they found comfort that it was Michigan she was sparing with. He wouldn't go easy but he would still show mercy.

Emma threw three blows to which Michigan was able to block. He found openings to counter in all three but he only struck on the second swing. Emma completely swung her pugil stick around to deliver a more devastating blow, but Michigan managed to leap out of the way just as they weapon came his way. With her sheer force, Emma ended up pushing herself forward and lost her balance and tripped over herself. She ended up losing her weapon. The pugil stick flew right into Michigan's hand That was a perfect opening for Michigan to deliver a match ending attack. He ignored it and just commented. "Whoa carful." and tossed the weapon back to his opponent.

Carolina called over the intercom. "Emma, watch your footing sweetie. And don't go for a power attack until you have an opening."

Emma turned towards the Viewing Room and gave a thumbs up. The two continued with their match.

"And keep a tight grip. Wouldn't want to lose you weapon in a real fight." Texas added.

Carolina was ready to snap at Texas about not telling her daughter what to do. The thought passed, she didn't bother saying so. Instead she approached her.

"Hey Texas. I've been thinking about something." She said with Texas turning away from the action. Her full attention on Carolina. "You remember what Emma said? About us being friends?"

"Yeah I remember." She could see the pitiful look on her face.

"Well how about we start over. Lets try and actually be friends."

Texas looked Carolina over and then looked back at Emma. In the short time she knew that kid she had really learned to like her. "$10.00."

"What?"

"$10.00. Thats what it'll take."

Carolina had a strained look on her but did so anyway, giving Texas $10.00. "Okay, nice having this chat bestie."

Carolina groaned a little. She felt she would regret this but knew it was necessary. For Emma. Her annoyed mood change to surprise when they both look back at the action down below. Michigan was now balancing on top of both his and Emma's pugil stick trying to stay still. Emma then knocked over one and Michigan collapsed to the floor. Washington sounded over the intercom. "Emma, play nice."

She just shrugged. Just then they heard F.I.L.I.S.S. sound over the loudspeaker, reporting all agents to the Command Center.

* * *

 **Mother of Invention-Command Center _ 1100 hours Reach Time**

The agents all gathered into the Command Center after getting word from the Director. It sounded urgent and so the agents made their way immediately. They all surrounded the holographic table and prepared for their plan.

"Agents!" The Director commanded with much dissatisfaction. "Your results in your previous endeavor on your most important mission has proven to be unacceptable!"

Carolina bowed her head slightly in, almost in shame. "Sir, if you could let me..."

"I do not want excuses Agent Carolina, I want results! I expected better from you!" His words really struck her. Washington could see that. They could also see Emma, hiding behind other agents, clench her fist out of anger. "At least now, you _might_ have the chance to redeem yourself."

Texas stepped forward and activated the holo-table. A Holographic image of Traxus Tower appeared. "Alright guys. With some _new intel_ we received, we've now confirmed that the Primary Objective is here in Traxus Towers." Texas looked over at a disappointed Carolina. She didn't know what it was but she felt like she needed this more then she did. "Carolina I'm gonna need you on point for this." She was gonna give her this one. "They'll have the entire facility on lockdown so I'll need you to lead a small team to infiltrate the vault. Stealthy."

The plan was set. The building would be heavily guarded even more so then he previous facility, so Carolina's team would be sneaking into the vault to steal the Primary objective with discretion. Texas team will be elsewhere. Part stealing as much intel and equipment from the enemy, part being a distraction. At least that was the plan. And they were hoping that this would go according to plan. They couldn't risk losing a vital piece to Freelancers plan again. Most likely for good this time.

They would be leaving within the hour, hoping to catch the enemy before they can prepare more then they already have. Emma's hands were still clenched into a fist as they walked out.

"Emma, is something wrong?" Her mother asked.

Emma had forgotten she had her clenched fists. She let them relax. "Huh? Oh sorry. Its just that I don't understand why you let _grand-dad_ him talk like that mom." She whispered at the mention of the Director.

"Well he's the boss and he expects results no matter what. Even more so from me, for obvious reasons."

"Well I don't like it. Its rude." Emma said slowly clenching her fists again. She was mad of course. But more so because of her knowledge of what her grandfather had done. What he will do, and what will happen to her parents.

"Eat the rude." Michigan randomly remarked.

"Shut up Mitch." Washington said. "Hey it doesn't matter what he thinks. We've made it this far because of her leadership. Hell, I don't even now where we'd be without her."

Carolina smiled at his comment. It almost made up for what the Director. Their conversation came to a halt when Texas walked up to them. It seemed strange to Carolina that she wasn't angered by her presence anymore.

"Alright New-Best-Friend, your team is going to drop in on the landing pad on the 39th story. It'll be heavily guarded, but I'm sure you won't have a problem." She said. All with confidence. "Just make sure York doesn't screw it up again."

"Hey!" York called out from down the hall.

"Theres just one more thing." Texas turned toward the young solider. "Is she coming to? Its going to be dangerous."

The adults eyes were now on Emma who was now ecstatic. "Can I! Can I mom! Please, please can I! Can I come!" She was excited she was ready to jump and burst a hole into the hull of the ship. Carolina couldn't say no to that face.

"Oh okay fine. But you are **Not** leaving my side young lady!"

"Yes Mam!" Emma cried and then saluted her mother. Being able to go on a REAL Freelancer mission with her parents was go to be exciting.


	13. Chapter 13

**April 26th 2550 _ Mother of Invention-Hanger Bay _ 1200 hours Reach Time**

After a stopping by the Locker Room and readying their gear, they all made their way to the Hanger for departure. Carolina, Washington and Emma were the last to arrive. The first team had already departed and was making their way planet side. Texas was talking to Michigan when she spotted them as soon as they arrived and waved them over.

"Hey new best friend!" She called out. Carolina groaned to herself which could be heard among the three of them.

"F**k. How long will that last."

Emma smirked to herself at her mothers remark. "wow, swear much." She said quietly to herself. Carolina turned to her. Emma could see the raised brow even through her VISR. "You never swore around me. Its kind of weird hearing it out loud."

"Carolina you should learn not to-"

"Shut up Wash." They made it to Texas, standing by the Pelican. Michigan had disappeared. "Hey Texas, has the other team gone yet?"

"Yeah, they should be in position by the time we pass through the New Alexandria air-space. How are you doing sweet-heart?" She referred to Emma.

"I'm doing good. I'm just excited to go on one of these Freelancer missions with you guys." She said with much enthusiasm. It made the grown ups smile. "And I promise not to get kidnapped again."

Just then metal footsteps were heard from inside the hold of the ship. Out from the hold came their favorite pilot, FourSevenNiner. "Hey can one of you guys help with those crates? Some ordinance in case we need it." The pilot asked.

Before anyone could make an excuse on why they couldn't do so, Emma volunteered, walking over to the crate. "I got it." She exclaimed. No one said anything.

As she walked by FourSevenNiner realized who she was. "Hey wait your Wash and Carolinas kid, right? From the future?"

"Yeah thats me."

The pilot looked her over awhile, taking in her whole form. "Aren't you a little short to be an agent?"

"Aren't you a little short to be a, _StormTrooper_?" Emma marked back. FourSevenNiner turned back to the grown ups.

"I like this kid." And went back inside the ship.

Emma took one of the crates and waked it over to the and then placed it on top of the other crates that were already stacked inside the drop ship. She couldn't stop herself from taking a peek inside. The only thing she could make out was a RailGun. ARC-920's. One of the newer models. She was startled by the sound of heavy footsteps coming from behind. The ship almost sunk a little from the massive weight. She turned around to see Agent Maine approaching with another crate. She stood aside to give him room. He placed the crate down and turned to face her and she froze.

"monster." She whispered to herself. He haunted her nightmares when she was little. She could still remember her vivid dreams, what she did to her parents. Maine growled something she couldn't understand. She perceived is as threatening and started backing away from him. "monster" she said to herself again. She kept backing away until she hit the wall behind her..

"Hey, heads up!" Michigan cried from outside and tossed one last crate inside. Maine managed to catch it just in time.

"Hey carful with those, their holding grenades remember!" FourSevenNiner cried out.

"How was I supposed to know that?" Michigan asked.

"It says so on the box!"

Michigan took a minute to examine the words (CAUTION-GRENADES-INSIDE) written on the box. "Wow I'm blind." Among the confusion Emma managed to slip away from Maine's (fake) wrath and to safety at Michigan's side. Washington later joined them.

"Hey Emma, you alright?" He could tell she was startled by something.

"Uh, yeah. I'm okay."

Washington raised an eyebrow but let the matter go. FourSevenNiner announced that they were ready for the mission and will be leaving soon. Everyone began boarding the shuttle and taking their seats. Well except for Michigan who had disappeared again. The only ones left outside were Carolina and York who just had to talk about something and didn't want anyone, specifically Washington or Emma, listening in.

"Seriously York we need to-"

"Just give me a second Carolina please." Carolina turned to face him. "You can't really be buying this bullsh*t can you?"

"What bullsh*t!"

"That kid!" York pointed at Emma in the back of the ship. She stuck her tongue out at him. "For all we know she could be a spy. Or an hitman..."

"York stop. She's non of those things she's and everything she's says is true. She's our daughter. She's even looks like me."

"But that can't be possible because-"

"What can't be possible?" Carolina stood in front of him with both fists clenched. "What can't be possible?! That she's _my_ daughter or mine the _Washington's_ daughter!" She honestly didn't want believe that Emma was right about him. that he would cause trouble.

York stayed silent. He was contemplating which response would not get him punched in the face. "Look I just figured because I thought that, _we_..."

"I'm going to stop you right there York." Carolina turned around towards the Pelican. York reached out to her but she snapped at him. "We are NOT having this discussion again!"

Carolina took the seat beside Emma, now furious inside. She turned to look at Emma and then the anger dissipated. She rustled up her hair a little and then gave her a small kiss on the top of her head. The cockpits door opened and out came Michigan, turning to their opposite side. With York, Texas and Maine.

"Hey, move your butt man."

Maine growled something at him, something intimidating. "Come on dude." Maine growled louder. Washington understood it as a threat. "If you don't scoot I will not watch the Toy Story Marathon with you." Maine remained silent for a second and then scooted aside, making room for the victor.

Emma watched the large brute pull out his weapon and began to sharpen its large blade. She didn't want to imagine how much pain he had caused with that. How much he hurt her parents. "monster."

* * *

 **April 26th 2550 _ New Alexandria-Traxus Tower _ 1500 hours Reach Time**

Among the few gadgets Emma brought from the future was a small hand-held Plasma Cutter. A reengineered Plasma Pistol which fires a short stream of Super-Heated-Plasma. Perfect for cutting a large hole into the reinforced steel walls of a fortified facility. The large piece of wall fell from its hole but was caught by an agent before crashing to the floor. Carolina, Washington, Emma, Michigan, and York snuck out and made their way to the vault. Texas and Maine had to split off to assist the other team.

The motion tracker detected a few hostiles approaching from down the hall. "We've got enemies coming in." Washington said. Emma raised her gun but Michigan stood first.

"Hold up kid, I got this."

The agents arrived to the door. There was a holographic lock on the door. That was unsuspected.

"York can you get that open." Carolina commanded more then asked. Washington and Emma could detect a hint anger.

"Look I'll do my best but these holographic locks are high-end. It might take awhile for..."

"I'll get it." Emma called and walked over to the Lock much to York's dismay.

"Look kid, it takes years of training to perfect just basic security systems. I don't think you can handle something this adva-"

"...Annnnd open, sesame.." And just like that the vault door opened without a problem. "I also disabled the motion sensors and the camera's are playing on a loop. We shouldn't have a problem." York was too annoyed from being defeated by a 18 year old girl.

Washington and Carolina walked passed them and into the vault while praising Emma on her success. Much to York's annoyance. "Great job sweetie." Carolina called and then Washington and Emma fist bumped. As York passed by Emma lifted her hand for a hive five. He just shook his head and walked past her. Hive five denied.

Emma entered the vault and sealed the door behind her. There were several tables with various types of weapons. Human or other wise. Emma knew who this building belonged to. She was really wishing she could do something about these. Maybe sabotage or even destroy these weapons. Then some time in the future Charon Industries wouldn't be able to use them against the people of Chorus. So much she could do to change the future, but doing so she could damage the fabric of time and space. She could't risk that.

"Damn." Carolina said aloud calling the attention of her teammates. She grabbed one of the Storm Rifles off the table. She held button on the side and the cylinder began to spin. "This stuff is high tech. We don't have this kind of stuff back on board."

Washington grabbed one of the other weapons off another table. A Plasma Caster. Holding by its closed panels and looking into the barrel. "What the hell is this, some sort of Grenade launcher."

"Your looking down the barrel dad." Emma said and trying hard to not laugh.

Washington immediately pushed the weapon away from his face. "Oh I know that."

Carolina smiled under her helmet, but she saw York visibly flinch from Emma referring to Washington as ' _dad_ '. There conversation still in the back of her mind she had to make sure to keep a certain distance from her family.

"Thats a Type-53 Plasma Bolt Launcher Dad. A Plasma Caster." Washington grabbed the Plasma Caster correctly this time and took looked down its holographic sights. Emma was carful to keep her distance most likely so she wouldn't get hurt. She knew her dad was an expert marksman, but in these days she also knew he was a bit of a goof.

"So how exactly does this work, do I just hold awkwardly like this or..." Before he could finish his sentence the side panels started to slowly extended and a glow static began to build. "Whoa, what is happening what is happening!" The weapon fired its plasma bolt and sticking to the wall nearby York. He quickly managed to jump behind cover before the bolt exploded.

"What the f**k man!" York called out from his cover. "I only have one good eye left remember!"

"Sorry." Washington apologized. A wild Michigan had suddenly appeared from behind York. He made his way around the table and headed towards Washington. Past the table of alien Beam rifles which he noted as, ' _would be useful later_ '.

"Hey Daryl Dixon." Michigan called out. "Hand it over." Washington handed the Alien crossbow to his friend. "This could be useful. I bet."

"Where the f**k did you come from!?" York called out to Michigan.

"Do you really need to ask."

* * *

In the lower floors of Traxus Tower the other team had gotten rid of enemy guards and had made their way to the data hub. The doors slid open and Texas managed to dispatched them with two precise shots to the head.

"Alright Connie get to work on taking that intel." North commanded as the head of this team.

Connie took a step forward but then immediately retreated. "Wait hold on how did you know I can do this?" Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared in her direction. "What?"

"Come on Connie." South rolled her eyes. "Everyone knows you can breach our internets firewalls so you can pirate episodes of _Full House_."

"Um, that is not true."

"Is that why you have that poster of John Stamos in your room?" Texas asked from a chuckle forming behind her helmet.

"Its her guilty pleasure. She has a playlist thats just John Stamos best scenes." South added. Connie covered her face plate from embarrassment.

"That would explain that John Stamos body pillow she has." Illinois added. The whole room roared with laughter from the fellow agents. Connie wanted to cry.

"I'm just gonna go start the download and cry."

Connie walked over to the terminal and plugged in her data drive. After the automated program breached its security system she began her scan for the various files that Project Freelancer needed. As soon as she found the specified files She started the download.

"I mean Baby Michelle is still adorable." Connie suddenly heard the others continuing on with their conversation on Full House. At least they weren't talking about her anymore.

"You know she was played by both of the Olsen Twins." North added.

"Are you serious? They look exactly the same." Illinois was currently leaning on the hilt of his Katana.

"I still think that Vicky and Danny should have been together." Texas added.

"They deserved each other." South added in.

Maine growled in agreement. He stood up from the floor and growled that they should probably rejoin Carolina's team. Of course no one could understand a single thing he was saying. Where was Washington when you needed him.

"What was that?" South asked first. Maine growled again but was only responded by more question from Connie, North and then Illinois.

"Bruce Willis is a ghost?"

"Darth Vader's Luke's father?"

"Connie's body pillow?" Connie kicked the sword from underneath him and he collapsed to the floor. "I deserve that." He managed to groan out.

Maine growled again that they should return to Carolina's team. "You know what Maine how about you stop f**king around and we get back to Carolina's team." Texas picked up her Battle Rifle and walked out the door. Maine growled something that sounded like ' _f**k it_ ' and followed her out.

Illinois got back to his feet and sheathed his katana on his back. He groaned a little from where the pointy end of the hilt pricked him in the belly. "Can I come with you guys?"

"Whatever." Texas said from behind her back as they disappeared past the door.

Illinois carefully side stepped past a frustrated Connie and towards the door. "body pillow." He mentioned and then bolted out the door just as a flying chair from nowhere exploded hitting the wall.


	14. Chapter 14

**April 26th 2550 _ New Alexandria-Traxus Tower _ 1700 hours Reach Time**

The Vaults large door unlocked itself. It slowly opened and in walked Texas, Maine, and Illinois into the large chamber to join the rest of the team. the first thing they noticed were the many weapons on the tables and in the hands of their teammates.

"What the f**k is this?" Texas remarked first at the sight of the large alien armory.

"Pretty sweet right. And to think just take all of these." Michigan said as the purple crystals _shinked_ out of shell of the Needle Rifle. "I like this. I like it alot." He said about the weapon. Washington walked to his friend and took the weapon away from his friend before he could get anymore ideas. Michigan made a failed attempt to get his weapon back. Even giving a quiet whine.

Texas noticed almost immediately that the room was split into two. Washington, Carolina, and Emma on one side, and York on the other. York would occasionally give a glance towards them only to turn away again. He seemed upset. Almost mad. She decided it would be best to be on the side with the family and for good reason.

Carolina was searching through registries and manifests for clues on the Primary Objective while Washington was busy sorting and categorizing the armament. Emma found it boring and joined Michigan in just playing with the cool toys. She was working on something that required taking apart some weapons apart apparently. Like taking the cylinder from a Storm rifle, power cells from from a Plasma Launcher, Fuel Rods from a Fuel Rod Cannon and a roll of duct tape. That scared her a little so Texas joined Carolina, or at least pretended too.

"Hey. New best friend." Carolina shot back up straightening her back.

"Man you are not gonna let that go are you!" She could see the sly smile behind the black-helmeted VISR.

"Anyway, whats with, uh... grumpy bitch over their?"

She was referring to the upset York across the room. Carolina looked in the general direction before turning away in anger. That conversation back on board the _Mother of Invention's_ Hanger coming back in mind. She clenched her fist in anger. "He thinks that Emma's lying." She huffed angrily but quietly. She didn't want Emma hearing this. "He thinks that _we're_ meant to be together, as oppose to me and Washington. Emma's definite proof of that right? She looks like us."

Texas looked back at York, now seeing the anger behind the helmet. "Has he tried anything?"

"No. But he will. In the future. Emma told us he... he kidnaps her. When she was seven." Carolina rested over the ledge of the nearby counter by the terminal. "I can't even imagine wandering how we must've felt. Finding out that our baby girl was taken. And by our friend!"

Texas looked back at York with anger now. She was ready to slam him through the window and watch him plummet down those several dozen stories. "That mother f**ker." She said almost venomous.

"At least I know for sure that Wash was there with me. He's always been there."

Texas was now remembering that conversation she had with Washington. When they were watching Carolina dying in that hospital bed "So you love him then don't you?"

Carolina looked at Washington, as easy going as always, Emma at another table, young, pretty, an ideal soldier and her daughter, and then back at Washington. She smiled. "Maybe so. Just have to wait and see."

Carolina pushed herself off the the table and accidentally pressed a hidden button. The floor hissed and the center of the room opened. The floor began to rise and with it, was a large and strange looking crate. There were strange markings on the sides of the container and had a very erie glow to it. The Primary Objective.

"Welp..." Illinois stated. "Thats definitely scary."

Carolina went to her Tac-Pad on her wrist to confirm that the large container was in fact the Primary Objective. She sent out a message to the rest of the agents in the building that Step one was accomplished. Now was step two.

"So how are we gonna get this thing out of here." Washington asked out loud.

Maine growled his suggestion on how to get it out which of course only Washington could understand. "No I don't think that would work buddy."

Maine growled another suggestion but was cut off by Michigan. "The large bald guy in the corner makes no sense."

* * *

Michigan charged up the Bow Caster and fired it at the large glass window. The explosive projectile stuck to the glass and the agents took cover. The glass exploded and in the after math left a considerable large whole.

"Alright, is everyone good?" Carolina asked aloud.

All the agents sounded off that they were fine. Illinois had the honor of covering Emma from the blast to protect her just incase it was bigger and worse then suspected.

"You good?" He asked.

Emma was grateful that she had her helmet on but her parents could see that she was blushing a little. "Yeah, I'm good. Thanks. You didn't have to do that."

"Its okay. Just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Emma smiled behind her helmet. Illinois split off to help Maine and York with securing the Primary objective. "We're gonna need to something to get that huge ass thing to the roof" Texas said. "Any ideas?"

York took a step back for a moment to examine his options. He noticed the cables that were hanging a few feet away. "We could probably use that window washing platform. Just give me a minute and I can get that baby..."

The sound of the gears wiring blocked out York as the platform slowly lifted into place. "Got it." Emma said.

"of course you did." York said quietly to himself and proceeded to help the others load the Primary Objective on to the platform.

Emma walked over with the others to discuss the rest of the plan. They now had a way of getting the Objective to the roof, now they had to make sure it was secure. Carolina suggested Michigan go and secure the LZ. Emma volunteered to assist. She'd be happy to hang out with her old cool fun Sociopathic uncle Michigan.

"Would you mind if we brought Illinois along?"

"Illinois? Not at all go ahead." Washington said with a bit of a smirk on his face.

"Why Illinois though?" Aunty Texas asked. "Do you like him?" She teased.

"What! No!" Emma said now blushing with embarrassment. "Of course not. I don't like him, he's just a pretty cool guy."

"Aww, someone has a crush." Carolina said singy songy. Emma blushed harder.

"Thats so cute." Her dad added.

"You guys are so embarrassing." Emma said and made her way towards Michigan to debrief him.

Over on the other side of the vault Maine growled something about actually getting the platform to move. Washington of course was the only one who could translate. "Uh oh. We might have a problem."

The quick assessment was that the Primary Objective was to heavy for the platform to actually move without it potently snapping the cables and dropping the package to who knows where. Michigan added that their could be a possible decapitation from the wildly swinging cables which brought great relief to the rest of the team. The only way for it to move was to counter the weight of the package. And only one person was heavy enough to do so.

Maine growled in protest but had already the cable tied around his waist. No going back now. "Come Maine. This should work fine." Carolina said in an effort to convince him. It didn't work.

"I think I have an idea." Illinois said and took a step back away. "This is SPARTA Bitch!" He yelled and kicked Maine out of the Vault, _300_ style.

"I don't get it." Emma said.

The counter weight worked but for only about half way. The platform shot straight up but only made it about half way up the destination until it got stuck again. They needed someone else..

"Well, sh*t. Whose going down there?" York was dumb enough to ask, but the other already had a pretty good idea on who. "What? Why are you looking at me?"

Before he knew it another cable was tied to his waist. He tried to protest but was interrupted by an angry Emma who had the honor of throwing him out. "This is for kidnapping me you son of a bitch!" She yelled and round house kicked him out of the building.

"I've never been more proud." Washington said. The proud father he was.

Just then the siren started blaring alerting everyone that was inside the building. To their position most likely. Emma checked the security feed outside the room on her Tac-Pad. "Uh, we've got baddies coming."

Emma said and was ready to grab the nearby Carbine on the table. "No." Carolina said. "We'll hold them off. You, Mitch and Illinois secure the roof. Now!"

Emma didn't bother arguing, as much as she wanted to stay and fight with her parents. She called down another Window washing platform and her and the others hopped on. She turned back at her parents before they ascended. Worry in her eyes.

"Its okay baby girl. We've got this covered." Texas reassured and loaded a Type-50 Concussion Rifle.

Emma nodded and ascended on the platform.

* * *

The platform finally reached the roof of the building. The package was already waiting, flipped on its side and waiting for extraction. Emma was hoping that the little fella inside wasn't too beat up. Those Huragoks are cute little guys.

Michigan walked around one of the transformers out of sight of the other two and called in FourSevenNiner to await for extraction. FourSevenNiner complied and was now on her way to recieve the package and pick up the agents . As soon as the rest of the teams made it to the roof they'd be ready to go home.

Emma turned around and walked close to the ledge, seeing the city from this hight. It was a beautiful sight. This would be the only time she'd see this city in all its glory, before it'd be glassed. The New Alexandria of her time was marvelous after its reforming but it was nothing compared to this. She just wished she could savor this moment with her parents, without the worry of a mission. Maybe aunty Texas and Socio-Uncle Michigan could be here. And J.D. too. She'd be speechless at this site, even though she doesn't talk period.

Being lost in her own mind she didn't realize that she was sitting down and that Illinois had joined her on the ledge with his helmet off. She took her helmet off too. "Some sight right. I can only imagine how it'd be in the future."

"It won't be like this thats for sure." She replied. Illinois chuckled at the remark. He was definitely cuter then any of the other guys back home in Blood Gulch. He turned to her and smiled and she smiled back.

Emma's helmet came to life with a transmission. She checked the feed on her Tac-Pad. It was her dad. They had taken care of the hostiles, shut off the alarms and were now on their way up to the roof. She shared the information with the rest of the team who were happy for the news. Emma went back to the looking at the city below with Illinois. They sat there talking a little about how they sometimes wish their lives were different, like how Illinois wished he knew his parents and that Emma wished she had a normal life as opposed to partially living in a military lifestyle since she was five. How different their lives would be.

"You ever sometimes wonder why we're here?" Illinois asked. Emma groaned from that question, being reminded of her uncles Simmons and Grif's discussion.

"Oh my God, don't even start with that." Illinois only snickered.

"You know, your one of the coolest girls I've ever met." He said.

"Like wise." Emma said back.

"You just called me a girl."

Emma snickered and apologized. "Sorry."

She put her hand down beside her. Illinois did the same and accidentally placed his hand on top of hers. He noticed too late of his incident, after Emma saw it. He was about to pull it away and apologized, but Emma smiled. He smiled back and they both turned away, now blushing from the situation.

Emma's acute sense of hearing could detect the sound of mechanisms turning as a lift was ascending. Most likely her parent and aunt on their way. 'Way to kill the moment mom and dad'. Emma thought.

"Come on. Lets go help Michigan and wait for the others." Emma said and stood up before Illinois could say anything. She didn't sound nervous or distress. Just a hint of annoyed but not with him. Illinois took comfort in that. He stood up and was ready to follow.

"That was cute. What you two did." Illinois almost cried in horror from Michigan almost appearing from nowhere. And behind him. He tried to speak but it only came out as stammered and garbled up gibberish.

"ha di, you uh, wha tha how, huh"

"Calm down will you. Your gonna have a stroke and fall off." Illinois calmed down, but was still in shock by Michigan's sudden appearance. "Look I get it. I know you like her and its cute. I won't say anything."

Illinois slowed his breathing and began to calm down.

"Just remember, don't get any ideas." Michigan tapped his machete on his arm. Illinois was well aware of what he's done with that. "Or we're gonna have another chat."

In silence they joined Emma as the elevator doors opened and the rest of the team stepped out. Emma welcomed them but they detected a hint of annoyance. "You guys have terrible timing, you know that." She said to them.

"What were you kids smooching or something?" Texas asked.

Emma blushed again and quickly put her helmet back on before the other could see. "You will never kiss a boy as long as we're around young lady."

Washington said following his daughter, walking to the prepared package. He kept on walking when she stopped dead in her tracks. What he said repeated in her mind over and over again. They weren't around anymore were they? She kind of wished he had said that when they were still around. A single tear fell down her eye.

"Hey Emma." Texas said softly as she came up to her from behind. She put her arm around her to comfort in case they really did hut her in some way. "You okay? We were just kidding you know. We didn't mean.."

"No, no its not you." Emma's voiced broke but she quickly composed herself. "I'm just, upset that its almost over. I've got what I need to get back home and then I'll be gone. I'll miss all this." She lied.

Texas smiled under her helmet and gave Emma a quick hug. "We're almost there kid, but there yet. Who knows maybe something will screw up and you'll have to stay longer until it gets sorted out."

"Yeah maybe."

They could see the Pelican approaching in from behind another building and it slowly landed on the roof. The Primary Objective was ready to load and soon they'd be heading home. Michigan had even wrapped a bow around it. Where he found it they had no idea. "Come on guys before New Years lets go!" The snarky pilot said.

Washington and Michigan were pushing the package into the hold of the ship. Thats when Emma heard something else. Jet turbines and the hum of elevators. She turned around and could see some Hornets circling the buildings around them, waiting to ambush them. Definitely not friendly "Guys." Emma called and everyones attention was on her. "I think we're in trouble."

The elevator doors opened and an army of soldiers stormed out and surrounded them. Hornets appeared from behind buildings and had their guns fixed on them. They'd be torn to pieces.

They were completely trapped. "Some how I blame Grif for this."


	15. Chapter 15

**April 26th 2550 _ Mother of Invention-Command Center _ 1800 hours Reach Time**

The Director watched from his monitors as the situation of the team planet side was becoming more dire. They were surrounded by hostiles all around them and no means of escape, neither on board with him or down below could see a way out for the agents.

"I need options people!" He commanded. "Find me a solution! Some way of seeing this mission complete and seeing that crate on my ship!"

Ship personnel were hard at work at trying to find an out for the team that was currently surrounded by enemy forces. Among the several highly trained combat analysts on board, non could find an exit.

The Councilman approached the Director from behind. When he heard him clear his throat he turned to face him. "Director, there is simply no way for Carolina's team to escape. They're trapped."

The Director turned away and bowed his head and grunted in anger. He turned back to the monitor seeing Carolina's team's current situation. He couldn't risk losing the Primary Objective again. He had to resort to the last resort. "Contact Agent North Dakota." He commanded. "Tell him to set the charges and bring down the facility."

The Councilman turned to one of the people handling communications and gave them the clear. The Directer walked up close to the monitor and touched the screen. The image zoomed in on the young soldier in red CQB armor, standing along side the other agents. He tapped the image again and came the persons bio and profile. Or complete lack of one. Just a picture of her face from a security camera and nothing else. She was with them on the last mission too and he still had no recollection on who she was. "And will someone tell me who _this_ is."

* * *

 **New Alexandria-Traxus Tower _ 1830 hours Reach Time**

"So, any ideas new best friend?." Texas asked Carolina about their current situation.

"If I had a f**king idea, don't you think I'd f**king say something." She responded.

"Mom. Swear." Emma added.

"Sorry baby. Just not in a very good mood right now."

One of the resistance's soldiers, the muscular soldier and the girl with knives stepped forward holding their respective weapons. "Well well well." The girl said. "Nice to see you again cutie and with all your friends." She was referring to Emma.

Illinois stepped closer to Emma to whisper something quickly. "uh, did you guys like..."

"not now roy."

"right sorry."

"Hey tell your boyfriend to shut it!" The girl said.

"Boyfriend!?" Carolina and Washington both shouted in surprise.

"He's not my boyfriend."

"I'm not her boyfriend."

"I said shut it!" The girl said again.

She examined the soldiers standing before her and then turned to the Pelican. She could take the pilot and stuffed the Freelancers in the Drop-ship and push it off the building. That'd be a fun sight.

"What do you think, _Sleeves_? Stuff them in their ship and throw them over?" She asked.

The Muscular soldier turned to face her with a questionable tilt of his head. "Sleeves? Thats my name."

The girl grunted in frustration and turned to her partner. "Look it was all I could think of okay. Why don't you think of a better name for yourself."

"I don't want one. I've told you I wanted to be called by my real name."

The Freelancers all gave each other similar looks. "Is this really happening?"

"I am not calling you Farnsworth. Your Sleeves now!"

"And I won't respond to that."

"My God your such an asshole. Lets just talk about it after we kill these six assholes."

The Freelancers were now confused again. Six? They made a quick head count, Carolina, Washington, Texas, Emma, Illinois, FourSevenNiner, 6. Michigan was missing. Of course. Seems as though he was gonna get them out of here. Hopefully.

"I still think we need to talk about this." They were still having this conversation.

Among the confusion Illinois spotted a note taped to Washington's back. "Dude you have a note."

"What?" He asked. Illinois took the note and handed it to Washington. " _I owe you, One E.M.P Unit_."

Up above they could see Michigan jury rigging the E.M.P. Unit to a relay tower. "Seriously." FourSevenNiner said in disbelief. "How even?"

A powerful surge of energy pulsated from the relay tower. The Hornets quickly began to lose control and began to drop like flies.

"Oh my God, this was like the time we had dinner with your mom! Lets just handle this and... wait a minute?" Girlie turned back to the Freelancers and now three more were missing. "What the f**k there were six of them here!"

While they were distracted Carolina, Texas and Emma activated their camouflage units and began to take down the enemy soldiers. Carolina, posing as one of them, made quick work at disposing the soldiers on one side before they could realize what was happening. On another side enemy soldiers were seeming to be taken down by an unseen force. Texas was kicking their asses and they couldn't even see her coming. Literally. The two Resistance soldiers noticed too late what had happened and all of their troops were on the ground.

"What the f**k!" The girl said.

"Look, all I'm saying is that its contradicting because of my..." _Sleeves_ said but was interrupted by a powerful invisible punch to the helmet. Emma appeared between them and they were ready to beat her down after the raid in their warehouse facility. However Emma was ready for them and was ready for sweet revenge. Because of what they did to her, and because of who they were affiliated with; and what _he_ would do. They weren't expecting her to be so fast.

Before they could even move Emma delivered a solid punch to Girlies head and then another blow to _Sleeves_ head. Girlie was caught off guard by the quick yet powerful attack but then swung for Emma's head. Emma ducked the attack with an ease then delivered an uppercut knocking her helmet off. She then kicked _Sleeve's_ knee which almost bent backwards, nearly shattering, then she delivered a quick chop to the throat, grabbed the back of his head and slammed him towards Girlie dropping them both. She hopped over _Sleeves_ , kicking Girlie in the chest, pulling her close to knee her in the gut a quick and brutal chop to the back of the neck and finally ended her with a fast roundhouse kick to the face.

The rest of the gang watched in amazement as she took them on on her own and beat them without breaking a sweat. "Damn! Remind me not to beat her at checkers." FourSevenNiner said. Illinois nodded in agreement.

Washington and Carolina were however a little worried. They watched as their daughter was huffing, nearly snarling at them. They remembered her talking about her naturally reinforced muscular structure. She was naturally stronger then the normal. That, with her added augmentations, that blow to the back of the neck would severely damage the Cervical Vertebrae in the spine. Girlie might end up paralyzed. Washington slowly approached her wanting to calm her down.

"Emma." He said softly. "Its okay. No one's gonna hurt you." He got closer and pulled her in to hug her. He could feel the rage pent up inside of her finally being released. At least for a moment. "Its okay." He said again. Emma hugged him back and rested her head on his chest.

She closed her eyes and imagined that he was holding her. Back home before all this chaos, before Charon attacked their house, before they were forced into this Military life. Before her parents left. She wished she could've had a normal life.

She opened her eyes and was back in Washington's arms on the roof of the building. Carolina was now with them, her helmet removed and expressing deep concern, but with a smile. "Hey baby. We're right here with you."

Emma looked around and saw that all eyes were on her. She slowly pulled away from her father, now prepared and ready to get moving. "Alright, I'm good. Lets get this done."

Michigan had finally joined them, appearing from behind Illinois. He nearly shrieked at his sudden appearance. They felt a deep rumble down the building. The floor below them began to shake. "That seems bad." Michigan said.

They received a quick message from South. _lol! Charges rigged. Hold on! XD XD_ -[Smily face]. A large boom sounded and then the building began to shake violently.

"Thats not good." Michigan said.

The ground below them began to sink very slowly. FourSevenNiner, Illinois, and Texas managed to hop onto the Pelican and take off before the upper floors of the building. Washington, Carolina, Michigan, and Emma were still on the roof when it began to free fall. The four, flying and falling through the debris had managed to make it through unscathed and landed on the swinging and unstable window washing platform. The heavy weight of them snapped the brakes and the platform began to fall several stories down.

The platform came to a screeching halt and then tore free from its cables throwing the four agents through the windows of a hanger. The rolled on the floor until they hit vehicles. Emma was laughing ot herself the whole way.

"Best, mission, ever! Of all time!" She kept on laughing. Washington slowly stood up from the floor, grunting like an old man.

"Lets just get out of this place before the rest of the building topples us." He groaned and then got to work on looking for suitable transportation with Michigan.

On the opposite side of the room, one of the Elevators dinged and the doors slid open. Carolina and Emma immediately drew their weapons believing them to be hostile. It was York.

"Whoa whoa! I'm friendly, I'm friendly!" He said out loud. That didn't mean Carolina lowered her weapon.

Emma didn't bother and turned with Michigan to look for another vehicle. The radio came to life just as Carolina finally decided that York posed no current threat.

"[ _Helloooo, Are you guys still alive?_ ]" It was Texas. On board the Pelican.

Emma answered the call and put it on speaker. "Hey Aunty Texas, we're all good here."

"[ _Oh thank God. The three of us made it to FourSevenNiner's Pelican. We were worried you guys didn't make it out_ okay.] She said.

York silently bitched to himself about Texas's affiliation. "are you f**king serious." he quietly whispered to himself.

Emma snapped her finger at him and mouthed the phrase, ' _I heard that_ '.

"[ _Illinois was really worried if you were okay._ ]" That made everyone turn their heads towards her. "[ _Is there something going on between you two?_ ]" She teased.

Emma visibly blushed at the accusation. "Ha, what, no. No, of course not. We're, we're just friends thats all. You know, bros for life." She stammered uncontrollably.

"[ _Come on baby girl. Just between you and me._ ]"

"We're on speaker phone." Emma replied almost embarrassed. She was only returned with an extended silence.

"[ _we'll talk later._ ]" She whispered with no effort as too be silent.

Carolina took over the call. She asked about the explosion in the building that occurred not too long ago. The only thing Texas knew or could say was that it was North's team who set the charges. The Directors orders were to bring the whole place down or risk losing the Primary Objective to the enemy. Texas also reassured that the Primary Objective was on board and that another team would arrive so that they could that could finally exfil. However another problem is that the owner of the building had alerted the city militia about the attack. The Freelancers were now branded as terrorists and would now be dealing with them to.

"Alright, so what, you guys looping back around or what?"

"[ _I don't think we can get to you from your current position New Best Friend. More baddies showed up and we're trying to lose them. If you can get out of downtown we could pick you up._ ]"

"Alright. We'll try to get out of here and out of the city limits."

"[ _You better do it fast to, You've baddies coming your way_.]"

The Elevator doors opened again only this time it wasn't friendlies. From the doors came the Chaingun Twins and the Flamer Joe. The Resistance soldiers. They walked forward and revved their weapons.

"What the f**k is with these guys." Washington said just as the Chaingun twins fired an enormous stream of bullets in their direction. They all took cover hiding behind Warthogs, Scorpions anything they believed had thick armor-plating.

York tossed a live grenade at them which exploded when Flamer Joe fired a stream of fire from his Flamethrower. Washington shouted a snarky remark about how _successful_ that was and try again as he fired shots at the enemy. York only gave him the finger which was almost shot off by the stream of bullets. Their attention was drawn to a sneaky Michigan who had managed to make it to a Cobra tank. He called out through the radio. "Why does this have eight pedals if there are only two directions?"

The Cobras primary Rail guns slowly turned in the direction of the resistance and fired its large weapons. The first magnetic projectile exploded near the one of the twins, startling her and whipping her weapon upwards to the ceiling. The concrete above shattered and collapsed above the other Freelancers. The enemy immediately turned their weapons to the tank. Barraging the vehicle with heavy damage. Despite the heavy damage Michigan fired another shot this time directly hitting the other twin, killing him.

Among the rubble were some weapons that the Freelancers could use. Washington picked up a Beam rifle and took aim. He fired at the last surviving twins large mini-gun as the barrels began to heat up and glow red. The hydrogen beam impacting the heated weapon caused it to explode, tearing the twin with shrapnel and killing her. Flamer Joe braced himself which gave Carolina an opening to throw the large Hammer at him throwing him against the wall.

Despite their victory their attention was to the wrecked and burning Cobra tank which sat motionless. "Mitch. You okay?" Washington asked.

There was an extended silence and then a muffled "I smell like napalm", in the distance.

"He's okay." Washington said. "He's fine."

Emma turned back to opposite wall to see Flamer Joe was quickly recovering from that Gravity Hammer. She was quick to respond. "Dad!" He turned to Emma. "Rifle!" She caught the weapon and fired a quick shot at the exposed and hissing fuel tank. At one shot the tank and Flamer Joe, exploded in a bright fiery kill ball.

"Nice shot Emma." Washington said to his daughter.

"Great work sweetie." Carolina added.

York had his arms crossed, annoyed and mad but still gave credit. "Yeah okay, that was pretty cool."

Their victory was short lived. The explosion caused the floor to crack and break and began to shake. "Oh no not again." Carolina said. They quickly hopped into the Warthog just as the floor began to shatter and collapse below them. With only a second left they drove the jeep and leapt out the window.

York was left holding onto a piece of rebar dangling out of the damaged concrete. "Just my luck." He mocked as he climbed back up.

Michigan caught up to him and gave him a lift back up. "So we going after them?"

"Say what! I'm not jumping out of a building again!"

"Suit yourself." Michigan said and then leapt out the enormous whole in the wall. Down several dozen stories.

York looked around among the wreckage for transportation. All the more speedy vehicles were destroyed or damaged beyond use in the initial battle. Leaving only one option.

"You've got to be f**king kidding me!"


	16. Chapter 16

**April 26th 2550 _ New Alexandria-City Center _ 1900 hours Reach Time**

The Washington slammed his boot on the pedal and the Warthog flew out the window as the floor crumbled and collapsed under them. They began free falling again several stories down as more debris chased after them. Emma in the passenger seat, fired her Rail Gun at the large boulders of debris blasting them into smaller and less dangerous chunks.

"Got an bright ideas Wash?" Carolina yelled as she tried to hang on to the turret.

Emma managed to help her mother back on to the passenger seat. She stayed in the back with the gun. "Dad, tell us you have an idea."

"I have no idea what to do!

"Damn it Wash!"

The further down they fell, the more they began to see signs of ground. Doors, street signs, stop lights and lights from traffic. "Uh-oh." Emma called out.

"Whats wrong?" Carolina asked.

"I see street level."

Their eyes widened as they started seeing cars passing through the tunnels. The sky disappeared and they were plunged into the underground and surrounded by hanging lights. They were in a tunnel. The whole jeep crashed onto the pavement and the three immediately felt a rush of speed as they accelerated up the ramp and flew onto oncoming traffic. Emma screamed and Carolina yelled as Washington swerved out of the way of several cars. Making one more turn the Warthogs back tire hitting a barrier and the jeep spun out of control only for it to come to a halt in a parking space.

They all climbed out of the vehicle, trembling from the journey. Emma collapsed to her knees as she embraced the solid ground. "Okay. That was rad."

Carolina walked over to her, heart still racing. "You okay sweetie."

"I'm good mom." She got back up to her feet. Washington took his helmet off and threw up behind another car. "Dad, you okay."

He kept throwing up. "He'll be okay." Carolina answered.

They finally managed to regain themselves and were ready to leave. "Son of a bitch!" Emma said aloud.

"Language Emma." Carolina scolded her.

Emma pointed up in the sky in the direction where she heard the sound of twin propellers of a falcon. "We've got more baddies incoming!"

As soon as they came into view, two Falcons, they all hopped back into the Warthog. "Son of a bitch!" Washington said fed up. He pulled out of the parking space and sped off towards the highway out of the city. Carolina got onto the radio and called Texas. "Texas come in."

"[ _Whats the problem?_ ]"

"We've got hostiles coming after us. We're maybe three hundred meters from the western highway. We need back up!"

There was minor static but Texas's message managed to get through. "[ _We need to set down the Primary Objective somewhere safe. We'll get to you as soon as we can._ ]"

Carolina got off the call and told the rest of the situation. She tried calling York to find out on his and Michigan's situation. He said he jumped out the window. They were sure that he'd be okay. Probably.

The Falcons grew closer to the Warthog. As soon as they were with in range they started firing at the rouge Warthog. Washington did is best to dodge the oncoming fire. Emma got onto the back of the gun and started to fire at the Falcon. A few shots pinged to the wing and it quickly moved away. "I never liked those things." Emma said about the the ships.

"Uh-oh!" Washington said aloud.

They all turned in front of them just as another Falcon got ahead of them with its side and big gun facing them. Washington called out to hang on as he made a quick jerk to hide behind an 18-wheeler to avoid the heavy fire. The armor-piercing rounds shredded the container.

"Dad, get in close!" Emma called out and charged up the Rail-Gun she, _borrowed_. She tossed it over to Carolina in the passenger seat. "Mom, hit the propeller!"

Washington accelerated past the Semi and in sight of the Falcon. Carolina aimed the rifle and fired the magnetic slug at the Falcon. The first shot damaged the wing enough for smoke to begin to blow and a red light start to blink from inside. A second, more precise shot hit the rotating propellers, blowing it off and sending the Falcon down. The soldier on the gun managed to hop out before it crashed. But not until he got run over by the Warthog.

"Sorry speed bump!" Washington said out loud.

"Dad you ran him over!"

"I'm sure he's fine. He has armor." They all turned around, Washington looking through the rear view mirror, saw the soldier slowly getting back to his knees only to be run down by a car. Then a van. Then the semi truck. Then they turned back around when they saw the Olifant Dump truck coming his way. "Yeah he's definitely dead."

* * *

 **Mother of Invention-Command Center _ 1930 hours Reach Time**

The Director watched the monitor. The stolen Warthog was displayed as the mystery agent in the back fired the turret at one last Falcon in pursuit. The gunner of the Falcon was then seen dropping falling out of the aircraft as his lifeless body plunged into the river below. Carolina finished off the Falcon by throwing one of the spare gas tanks which was ducked tape with some grenades at the cockpit and then firing another Rail-Gun slug, blowing up the pilot seat and sending the Falcon down a flaming wreck.

"That was a bit over kill." Some of the personnel said quietly. Some others nodded in agreement.

The Director walked towards another monitor. The screen displayed a security camera image of the stranger posing as an Agent. A smaller window appeared displaying a profile picture of her. Apart from that, nothing else was known on this stranger. Name, Date of Birth, Education, Birth Place, Number of Tweeter Followers, Family, nothing. She was a ghost.

There was only one thing that stood out the most. Her One green eye. He couldn't help but think. Carolina had a very similar color, but that wasn't possible. And that also made way for another question. Her other Blue eye.

* * *

 **New Alexandria-Main Highway _ 2000 hours Reach Time**

Traveling along the highway was growing tiresome. They hadn't had any more run ins with the city militia, not since Carolina burned that last Falcon down. They were starting to believe that the rest of the trip would go smoothly and that they would soon be gone from Reach.

Emma was on the call with Texas. "[ _Okay we just dropped off the package. The other team should recover it soon. We're on our way to pick you guys up._ ]"

"Okay we'll see you guys soon." Emma hung up the call and stayed hunched over the turret. "I'm hungry, we can we stop somewhere to eat?"

"How is it that your always hungry?" Carolina asked.

"High Metabolism. Duh."

"We can eat when we get back to the ship. And finally out of Reach."

Carolina turned to him with a bit of a scowl. "Did you just make a pun?!"

"What?" Washington turned to her for a second with a raised eyebrow. "No. I didn't."

"Yes you did! You made a f**king pun!"

"Mom, swear." Emma interjected but was ignored. These were definitely the kind of arguments that she didn't miss. The minute she turned away, she could see a thin beam of light. She followed it to see a red dot shinning off the side of a truck.

"I did not. It was a misunderstanding."

"Mom."

"You made a pun you nerd!"

"Dad!"

"It was a slip up!"

Emma followed the spotting laser to behind. She saw the bright red glow of a spotting laser on the back of a freight trucks flatbed. "Guys!"

"What!" they both said aloud and turned to face her.

Emma quickly spun the gun around ready to open fire. A bright flash and loud crackle as the rifle shot hitting her square in the chest. She fell off of the moving jeep but caught herself on the hood. Carolina quickly reached over and grabbed her hand to pull her back in as another shot rang from behind. The second round hit the shield of the turret but did little else. As soon as Emma was safe in the passenger seat Carolina climbed onto the gun and began opening fire on the truck.

"Son of a mother, damn it!" Emma exclaimed. Her red armor had a black smear from where she was but aside from that, she was unharmed. "Sh*t!"

"Watch your language sweetie."

"I just got shot dad!"

Washington alerted Carolina before hand and then swerved to take cover behind traffic. Before they could escape, another sniper round hit one of the back wheels. The tire blew out and Washington began to lose control. He swerved onto on coming traffic and only barely made back over to their side before crashing head first. Jumping over the barrier wasn't a problem but when they landed, they landed front bumper first. the plating caved in and one of the front tires. Carolina began to open fire again on the enemy who were closing in fast.

"Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t." Washington repeated as he continued to try to control the vehicle and then lose control again.

"Dad, be carful!" Emma shouted as Washington crashed against the barrier and came to a screeching halt.

The truck grew closer and closer. Carolina kept fire as the speeding freighter came charging at them blowing off tires and killing the driver. She shouted at the other two to brace themselves and then the truck rammed into them, throwing the jeep off the bridge and launching them into the river below.

* * *

Being plunged into darkness, Emma called out for her parents, calling them for help. "Mom. Dad." They wouldn't respond. She called out to them, trying the radio again. Nothing.

"Mom. Dad!" Nothing. She couldn't see anything. No lights from their armor or the wreckage of the Warthog. She cried out for them again.

"Mommy." She saw the light coming through her door. "Daddy!"

The door opened up and in came in Carolina and Washington rushing in. "Emma, whats wrong?"

Emma threw her blanket around herself as an effort to protect herself from whatever monster was after her. Carolina kneeled beside her. "Emma baby whats wrong?" She asked.

She pointed at her closet door. "monster."

Carolina stood up and walked over to the door. When she opened the door, there was nothing. "Baby theres no monster." She said as she walked back to Emma's side.

Emma looked down, ashamed that she wasted her parents time and woke them up in the middle of the night for no reason. "Hey, its okay sweetie." Washington said and wrapped his arms around her into a hug. "Theres nothing to be scared of. It was just a scary dream."

Carolina hugged Emma. "Don't worry baby. You ever have to be scared." She gave her a small kiss on the top of her head. "We'll always be here."

Both Emma's mom and dad held her closely. Their hugs were warm and loving. He eyes slowly began to shudder until they closed and she went back to sleep.

* * *

The last thing Emma remembered was her mother whispering into her ear. "We love you baby."

She began to smell the scent of sea water. She opened her eyes and saw a blinking light inside her helmet. Her helmet had been compromised. She was now sitting at the bottom of the river with her helmet slowly filling up with water.

She began to make the slow climb towards the surface. She used all her strength to pull herself with her half ton suit. She pulled and dragged herself till she ran out of breath, the last bubbles escaping as the water finally surpassed her eyes.

She bursted through the water and clawed her way up the steep dirt mound to land. When she was safe she tore her helmet off and started panting for breath. Fresh air had never tasted sweeter.

The water splashed again this time crawling out was Cyan colored. "Mom!" Emma cried out.

Carolina tore her helmet off choking, trying to breath. "Mom!" Emma cried out again. She ran to her and hugged her tightly. "Your okay!"

"Your crushing me sweetie." Carolina managed to sound.

"Sorry."

Together they sat in the dirt waiting for Texas and their ride home to arrived. First off Carolina called Washington.

"Wash. Do you copy?"She asked with no response. "Wash answer me! Where are you?" Still no response.

"Why isn't dad picking up?" Emma asked frightened.

Carolina went to her tac-pad and checked her Motion tracker. Washington blip pinged less then eight yards in front of them. She checked the BioCom. His vitals were dropping fast. "He's still down there." She finally said.

"What! We need to help him!"

"I'm going down there. You stay here." Carolina said.

"But Mom!"

"But, nothing. Stay! Here Emma!"

Carolina said clamping her helmet back on and leaping into the water.


	17. Chapter 17

**April 26th 2550 _ New Alexandria-City Center _ 2100 hours Reach Time**

Emma sat there in the dirt, tears streaming down her face, waiting for her parents to come back. The water in front of her didn't move an inch in the time she had been waiting. It seemed like hours since her mom went down there to rescue her dad and she had yet to return. These were always the worst back home. The waiting. Waiting to for their next mission, waiting for to hear from them, waiting for them to come back home. The never ending waiting. Always coming back to haunt her.

She sat there waiting, hugging her knees close to her chest. She watched the Pelican fly by the bridge above her, a couple of Hornets chasing after it. That was probably aunty Texas. She wished her luck, and for her come back quickly. A sudden thud behind her and in came Illinois.

"Emma." He called out and quickly jogged to her. "What happened? Wheres Wash and Carolina?"

She didn't say anything. Just pointed to the water in front. She pulled her knees closer. Illinois sat beside her. He put his arm around her, trying to comfort her.

"Hey its going to be okay. Wash, and Carolina will be here any minute."

She wanted to believe that. She wished it were that simple. They just climb back out of the water and everything would be perfect. They could go back home. Or at least the ship. And spend a little more time together till she had to get back home. To her own time. If only it were that simple. She rested her head on Illinois shoulders. He was a good guy. It was ashamed he couldn't go with her. All of a sudden she could felt a slight headache. She could feel her head heating up. The headache grew worse, and soon it became excruciating. She fell back to the ground clutching her head from the pain. Illinois tried to snap her out of the pain.

"Emma. Emma! Whats happening?"

The water in front of them began to ripple and bubble and then a large grey creature climbed out of the water and crawled towards them. It was Carolina with Washington over her shoulder. She gently placed him on the ground and threw her helmet off, gasping for breath. She removed Washington's helmet which completely drained of water.

"Yo Lina help." Illinois cried out holding a shivering Emma. "She's down."

Carolina ran to them immediately without question. "What happened to her!" She demanded an answer.

"I don't know! She just, just, I don't know!"

"Come on Emma say something. Illinois go check on Wash!" She ordered and Illinois followed.

Carolina gently held her closely trying to figure out the problem. Emma was burning hot and her forehead was all sweaty. She checked her Tac-Pad for the timer. She still had seven more hours still she needed her next dose. What was happening to her?

"Come on baby, I'm here. Say something whats wrong." She gently said, but Emma didn't respond. "Illinois whats the status on Wash!"

Illinois didn't know the first thing on First Aid. The first thing that came to mind was to put his hand over his nose. He didn't feel any heat. He wasn't breathing. That was a problem. He saw in the movies to check for a pulse on the wrist and neck. He tried both. He couldn't find it. "Oh sh*t."

"What? What happened?"

"Uh, uh..." Illinois was lost for words. He didn't know what to say.

She knew what he meant to say. Carolina just stared at him with most horrified look on her face. The cruel realization slowly coming to her. Washington was dead.

"No." She ran to Washington. "No, no he can't be!" She ran to his side trying whatever she could to bring him back. She ordered Illinois to take care of Emma and he did without question.

"Come on Wash don't do this." Carolina set up the Bio-Com on Washington and removed his Chest plate. The feed read as flat line. He really was gone. Thats what was happening to Emma. If Washington dead then they would never have gotten married and Emma would never have been born. Her body was slowly deteriorating to non existence. No. Carolina refused to believe that. "No, your not dead yet."

She started pumping his chest trying to jump start his heart. She pressed, hard three times and then did CPR, taking a deep breath and giving mouth to mouth. Nothing changed. She tried a second time. Pressing his chest five times and then giving mouth to mouth. Still nothing. Then she had an idea.

Luckily for her, she snatched some of those plasma grenades from the building before it collapsed. "Hang on Wash, this'll only take a minute."

She was carful in opening up the explosive device to its detonation charge. Thank God for Michigan. She lowered the blast of the charge a smaller blast and replaced the casing. Jury-rigged shock paddles. She only had three. She placed the first one dead center on his chest, over his heart. _Bang_. The Bio-Com ringed for a second but then flat lined. She started pressing his chest again trying to jump start it. Nothing.

"Come on Wash. Don't do this please." She pleaded.

She placed the second charge on his chest. _Bang_. The Bio-Com flared with a pulse and she started pressing his chest again. Trying to keep the pulse going. She gave mouth to mouth again. Carolina continued but the pulse slowly began to falter. She placed the last charge on his chest.

"Come on Wash. Come back to us. Come back to me." _Bang_. The pulse began to beat rapidly again. She started pressing his chest again for six more times. She took a deep breath and gave mouth to mouth. Washington sprang up and started choking as he coughed up water. His eyes widened as he tried to drain his throat of water.

"F**k. What the hell happened!" He said but was caught off guard by Carolina throwing her arms around him in a tight hug.

"I thought we lost." She said.

"Lost me? Where did I..."

"Guys!" Illinois shouted from nearby. "Get over here!"

They both ran to Emma. Her skin was shockingly pale and her breathing had turned to wheezing. They ran to her side and Carolina gently took her in her arms.

"Come on Emma. Your okay, come back to us."

Washington placed his hand on his daughters face. "Come on Emma. Please come back to us."

From where Washington touched her on her cheek her color was coming back. Her eyes slowly opened and changed, turning from a dead filmy white to her green eyes. She groaned from the pain as she slowly sat up. Her head still ached but the pain slowly began to dissipate. Her eyes widened when she saw her parents, alive and well.

"Mom. Dad your alive!"

She leapt and hugged her father tightly afraid of losing him again. Carolina hugged her too and Washington hugged them both. They all held each other close in a great family hug. Illinois just sat aside awkwardly sitting there and watching them.

"I'll just sit here then." Illinois said while being left out of the family group hug.

Emma immediately reached out grabbed his collar and pulled him in. "Oh come here you."

* * *

They were all glad to be alive and well. They started their climb up the leg support of the bridge. The Pelican was already sitting on the highway, waiting for them to show up. Carolina and Emma were already up and meeting up with the rest of the Texas. Illinois was already on the bridge and was helping Washington up.

"So Illinois, you seem to like Emma it huh?" Washington asked.

"Uh, yeah sure. She's great, and... pretty. Good job heh." He said very awkwardly.

Just as he was over the barrier, he pulled Illinois close and gave him a fair warning. "if you think about touching her, i will end you." He whispered with a evil smile behind his helmet. Illinois just gave a whimper and let Washington pass.

Aside from the threat, everything was well so far. However they did realize that their team was short two agents.

"Hey wait wheres Mitch?" Washington asked calmly asked until he heard the frightening voice behind him.

"What you need, man?" Michigan asked from out of nowhere.

Washington nearly jumped out of his armor. "SH*T! What the f**k man!"

"Dad, swear." Emma commented.

"Seriously dude! Where did you come from?" Texas asked.

"I took a cab." Michigan answered, pointing at the nearby taxi that appeared out of nowhere. "By the way, does anyone have twenty bucks?"

Luckily for him his buddy, Washington always carried cash on him. He LOANED him the money without question and he walked away to pay off the driver.

"Okay so Mitch is here so wheres..."

Before they could answer they heard the dying screech of a terrible motor of a vehicle slowly approaching. They all peeked from around the Pelican to see York slowly approaching on a wrecked, broken down and, barely-holding-together Mongoose, coming in at a mach speed of two MilesPerHour. When he was close enough the FOUR-WHEELED vehicle somehow managed to tip and fall over on it side.

"That is the sexiest thing I've ever scene."

"Shut Up Mitch!" York shouted and then accidentally threw his helmet into the river.

"Smooth."

"What took you so long?"

" _What too_ , you JUMPED out of a BUILDING! You were expecting me to follow!"

"... yes."

Oddly enough everyone looked over to York, as if what Michigan was actually making more since then him. York was tired and had enough of today. "Whatever, lets just go back home." And slumped into a seat.

The rest of the agents also entered and took their seats. York, Texas, Illinois and Michigan on one side and Washington, Emma and Carolina on the other. Emma rested her head on her mothers side and she put her arm around her daughter. They could all see the smile through her helmet. Smiling at Emma and to Washington. He returned the smile. They were together, happy and safe from harm.

York just sat there, arms crossed and looked at them with much anger. He still couldn't believe that this was happening, and right in front of his eyes.


	18. Chapter 18

**Authors** **Notes: The only reason the last chapter was short is because the word count was 1776. So yeah. Murica.**

 **Anyway, you can all breath easy now, you no longer have to suffer the this story. This is the last chapter. Its been hard but we finally made it. Congratulations you survived and now you can go with your lives knowing that you've wasted your time actually reading this garbage. (Yeah, both of you who've actually been keeping up.)**

* * *

 **April 27th 2550 _ Mother of Invention-Hanger Bay _ 0000 hours Reach Time**

They finally made it back home to the Mother of Invention, hungry, tired, some more hurt then others, but above all alive and well. The Pelican landed in the hanger bay and the agents could feel the sweet feeling of the artificial gravity of the ship.

"Alright party people, home sweet home. Now get the f**k off my ship. Baby needs a bath." FourSevenNiner shouted from the cockpit.

York was the first one out of the ship, storming out of the drop ship and wanting away from all of this. The farther away he got from the more he wished to hear Carolina try to call out to him. When he made it to the doors he turned around to see. She was just standing there, not even bothered by his exit. There, with Washington and that damn girl. The whole thing was complete bullsh*t. He was definitely going to get hammered/blacked out drunk after this was over.

On the other end of rope, the rest of the gang was glad to be back and in were in a much better mood then York. Washington was having a bit of a hard time believing that he had actually died back there, but they kept telling him that he did. She was grateful for Michigan, in showing her how to crack open those Plasma Grenades. They often wondered how he figured that out the first time, without blowing himself up. Or maybe he did and just didn't say. And if that was the case, why was he still alive.

"So you really brought me back by pretty much blowing up plasma grenades on my chest?" Washington asked.

"Well, yeah pretty much." Carolina answered. "You really had me scared. You and Emma."

"I wanted to help but you know. We were both dying." Emma added.

Carolina put her arm around her and brought her close. "As if I was gonna let that happen. You two mean everything."

"Well I for one am glad to have the whole team back home safe." Texas said. "So whose up for pizza and getting drunk?"

"I don't drink." Emma said.

"High-five." Michigan said and high-fived the kid. He too didn't drink. Of course abstinence was something she learned from her favorite Sociopathic Uncle. One of many things.

"Closest thing to a plan for now."

"I guess we're in."

They started making their towards the exit and to the Mess Hall. Emma could hear the pilot practically yelling at Illinois from the back of the Pelican to get out. Apparently he was having trouble trying to get something out of the hold. "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up." She said and the rest of the group left with out her. Michigan promised to save some pizza for her before disappearing behind the doors.

She walked around the Pelican and there spotted Illinois still struggling to take the box from its hold. "Need a hand?" She asked with a smile. Her helmet was clipped to her hip.

Illinois definitely liked that smile. "Uh, uh sure yeah. If you know you can heave this thing." His helmet was sitting down on one of the seats.

Emma walked over and pulled the box from its hold without breaking a sweat. Illinois felt a tad bit embarrassed about this. He had to get help from a girl. A cute girl. But then again the toughest and best agents in the project were women.

"Umm, thanks I guess."

He was blushing. She thought it was cute. "Think of it as, we're even now. For helping saving my life."

"Well, I mean that was all Car, well your mom. I just panicked and just watched you." He said and then blushed harder. "Man that sounded so creepy. I didn't mean like I was _watching_ you, I, well, what I meant was..."

She couldn't help but laugh at how embarrassed he was. "I get what you mean. What matters is you tried."

"Well you know, your my friend. And I was kind of freaked out." She remembered what happened. Not just her mom and dad. How when she keeled over, he held her close in his arms. Afraid of losing her. She never felt anyone else worry about her as much as he did. Outside of the family at least. "I couldn't stand someone I care about getting hurt."

She couldn't help but blush and smile. He was so sweet to her. He was the first ever boy that she actually liked. She couldn't help it, but she walked up closer and kissed him. Right on the lips. It was her first ever, real kiss. When she pulled away, he was wide eyed and mouth stayed open, he was such in shock. Emma just smiled, looked away for a moment and then finally walked away. After a minute of waiting he finally walked out of the ship. He spotted Emma already towards the door. Before he could make another step, he felt a heavy hand slap on his shoulder and forcing him to walk forward. It was Michigan.

"Hey there _Blade Buddy_."

Oh Dear God help him.

* * *

 **Mother of Invention-Mess Hall _ 0030 hours Reach Time**

Illinois walked into the Mess Hall after his chat with Michigan. He could still feel his spine shuttering from his, _friendly_ conversation. When the door opened he spotted Emma among the group, between her parents devouring pizza like a mad dog. She looked great. And there sitting a seat in front and to the left of her was Michigan. How in the hell did he get from the Locker Room to the Mess Hall? There was an extra seat in front of her, and he was really wishing it was for him.

"Hey Roy!" He heard her call out. "Saved you a seat." And she gestured to the seat in front.

Thank God. He walked over and took the seat. Between Michigan and Texas no less. Emma slid him a plate with some slices of pizza. he happily accepted them. Every once in a while she would look up to him and give him a smile. He'd smile back. That kiss they had was one of the best moments of his life. He kind of hoped that she thought the same.

"So really just, jumped out of the building?" Carolina asked. Their attention now towards the older adults.

"Yeah. How do you think I got to the bridge so fast?" Michigan answered.

"Not fast enough. Where were you when we rammed off the bridge?"

"Stuck in traffic. Plus, you know taxi drivers, you tell them to go down the street, they go opposite way and show you half the city."

They couldn't really argue with that logic. They just kept eating. Carolina could see in the opposite side of the Mess Hall was York facing away from them and sitting, eating and drinking alone. She just rolled her eyes and thought, _Just get over it damn it_ , and kept eating.

"I have a question." Washington spoke up. "Why did you drop the building on us?"

"Actually yeah." Emma added. "What was that about, we were still in the building."

"Oh yeah sorry." Texas said. "That was a lat minute detail I forgot to mention. I figured you guys would've made it."

That definitely annoyed them. "You bitch." Carolina flatly said.

"Mom swear."

"Sorry sweetie."

"But seriously what the hell Auntie Texas."

"Oh calm down you know I love you guys. You made it out didn't you?"

"Uh-huh yeah, and the Soviet Union collapsed." Michigan said.

Everybody stopped and stared at him like he was crazy. "They did collapse. In 1991" Emma said.

"Sure they did kid."

Soon enough the doors to the Mess Hall opened and in walked in the Dakota twins and C.T.

"What up c*nts." South said upon entering.

They joined the group and took their seats among their friends for pizza. South reached over to grab one of the large platters of pizza, but her hand was smacked away and the platter was swiped away by Emma.

"Hey!"

"Fight me I have a fast metabolism. And I'm hungry."

* * *

 **Mother of Invention-Cargo Hold _ 0200 hours Reach Time**

The time finally came. Emma had to go back to her own time. As much as everyone hated this, there was nothing they could do to get her to stay. At least they got to enjoyed one last meal together. They returned back to the Cargo Hold, where it all started. The large container where she first arrived was still there, and still destroyed. Apparently no one got to actually cleaning up here.

"This is the one right?" Michigan asked.

"Made one hell of a mess." Illinois added.

"Yep thats it." Emma answered. "Guess this is it." She checked her Tac-Pad for her travel unit to see if everything was green.

"Power Cells charged and been replaced. Your good to go." Texas said and gave a thumbs up.

"Thanks again for the help."

Washington tossed her the data drive she had with her before they went on the mission. "Your probably gonna need that back. Future Tech not good for the past and all. Oh and our guys couldn't find anything. The whole thing was corrupt. Sorry."

Emma to the device and gave a disappointed huff. "Well thanks. The important is you tried." She gave a small joke.

She turned to face the container, her one way ticket home and then back to the group. Standing there was Her Uncle Michigan, Aunty Texas, her parents and Illinois. Possibly the second greatest thing to happen to her. That kiss they had coming back to mind made her smile.

"Well it seems as though this is-" Carolina started but was cut off.

"-don't say it mom. Remember."

"Right, sorry. Until next time then."

First thing was to Michigan. They shared a fist bump which was followed by a mysterious complex handshake that was completely improvised but yet flawlessly executed. "You take care kid."

Next was Aunty Texas. They had a strong solid firm handshake farewell. Texas knew she was strong and so made sure to give a strong squeeze. The effort was pretty neutral but she wouldn't lie and say that her hand did hurt a little. Emma was really strong. But she would never in her life admit to it. "Make me proud."

And finally was Illinois. Probably the closest thing she would ever have to having a boyfriend. "So I guess this is it." He said, really struggling to hide the tears and pain in his heart. "Well I just want to say, its been great. And I everything works out for you."

She didn't say anything back. She really didn't know what to say. She definitely didn't want to say good-bye to him. Instead she gave him something else to remember him by and kissed him a second time. Although completely caught off guard, he wasn't as surprised as before and returned the kiss. Just innocent lip to lip action.

Washington was about to step forward and stop these two but was held back by Carolina and Texas. "calm down wash." Carolina gritted through her teeth in silence. "murder his ass later."

Emma heard the entire conversation and finally pulled away before they lost it and murdered him and returned to the container. Texas thought this was more of a family moment and motioned the guys to leave with her. They complied.

"nice going ninja boy." Michigan whispered.

"i've told you time and time again i'm not a ninja."

"yeah because your f**king Korean." Texas whispered.

Emma heard their bickering of course. She thought she'd give Illinois one last thing to remember her by. "Hey Roy." He turned back and she tossed him a new SMG that they had never seen before. It didn't like the M7. "Thats an M20 PDW. They won't be in production till three years from now. Uses the same ammo too."

He gave another quiet thank you and they left the the family alone.

They had wasted enough time and were now only delaying the inevitable. It was time for Emma to go home. "Well I guess this is it." Washington said.

"Yeah it is." Carolina added. "Good Luck Emma."

She held back the urge to cry and instead replaced her pain with humor. Her standard defense mechanism. "I'll miss you guys. You know when you weren't old and lame."

"We'll miss you to baby. Happy we won't have to worry about you becoming a bratty child who'll hate us forever." Carolina said.

"Guess we'll have to wait and see." Washington said.

They laughed. Emma put on her helmet and activated her Travel Unit. Before she hit go she turned back to her parents. Smiling and hiding the hurt of watching her go and leave. Thats what they probably would've looked like, if she ever left for college. Just sad and hurt at watching her go. She to them and hugged them both tightly. She cried.

"I love you mom and dad! I love you so much!"

They two started to cry and held her closely. "We love you too baby." Carolina said for the both of them.

Enough was enough. They both forced themselves to pull away from each other. Emma stepped into the the container and activated her unit. She was suddenly encased in a large glowing sphere of temporal energy. She began to slowly lift off the ground as the unit was charging for the jump.

"[ _Agent Utah, Please Report For A.I. Implantation. Repeat: Agent Utah, Please Report For A.I Implantation. Have A Nice Day._ ]" F.I.L.I.S.S. suddenly came over the intercom.

Emma's head suddenly began to hurt when the sudden wave of memory began to flood her mind. She remembered why she came here in the first place. She didn't come to fight along side them, she came to warn them. She shouted over the roaring sound of energy surging throughout the Cargo Hold. "MOM! DAD! I REMEMBER!"

They couldn't hear her. The sound was so deafening they couldn't hear Emma shouting. "WHAT?" Washington shouted. "WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

"I REMEMBER NOW! THE A.I.! YOU CAN'T TRUST THEM! O'MALLY, GARY, AND SIGMA! DANGEROUS! CAN'T BE TRUSTED! YOU CAN'T-"

A powerful wave threw the two agents across the room as powerful as an explosion and the whole chamber went dark. When the lights finally came back on the remains of the container were practically non-existent. Emma was gone. They stood there and stared at the spot their daughter once stood. And now she was gone.

* * *

 **Mother of Invention-Freelancer Barracks _ 0230 hours Reach Time**

They had spent enough time in the Cargo Hold, after leaving all their gear in the Locker Room the two agents finally returned to the barracks. They still wondered about Emma's warning about the A.I. And who ever these persons were. They didn't know about Omally or Gary or Sigma. Maybe Sigma was an A.I. But how was he or the other two dangerous. They couldn't know for sure. The one thing they did know for sure was that they would miss Emma.

"So what now?" Washington finally broke the silence. "What do you think by what she meant about the A.I."

"I honestly don't know Wash." Carolina responded. "But whatever it is, I'm sure we'll be able to handle it."

Her optimism was actually somewhat of a surprise, however still comforting. "Yeah sure. We just need to stick together." She didn't know why but that made her smile. "So like, what now? After everything thats happened, things are gonna different for us. All of us."

"Thats true." She reached and held his hand as while they walked. "But that doesn't have to be a bad thing."

He looked to see that they were indeed holding hands, and she was smiling. He smiled. "That could be true. So then what now?"

They arrived to Carolina's room before she could answer. He really hopped they had this chance before they had to go their separate ways. Carolina however didn't see why they had to split up. "Now, I think its time for a long nap." She answered, opened the door and pulled Washington inside with her.

Going in with her caught him by surprise but he did pretty well at hiding it. She walked them over to her bed where they climbed in and settled themselves for a long sleep. She wasn't kidding about that nap, but after the past few days they had, he was exhausted to finally get some sleep without having to worry about another major mission (or accidentally creating a time paradox). What better way to sleep then with the woman he loves.

They bother snuggled closely under the blanket and for the longest time just stared into each others eyes. His stunning blue eyes and her beautiful green eyes. This really was it, he felt nothing but love for her. And same for her. Looking into his blue eyes she remembered how she felt when she thought he died on the mission, what she said. What she said and how she felt when he came back was made her happy. This is what true happiness felt like. Being with the man she loved.

"I love you Wash."

He closed in and kissed her on the lips. She returned the kiss and then rested curled her head against him, happy to be in love with him.

"I love you too Carolina." He planted one last kiss on her head and then finally went to sleep. Happily being with the woman he loved.

* * *

 **Authors Note: And thus concludes the story, _Future Problems Today: Redux_. Thanks again for the two of you who've been with us since the beginning. (Unless reader #2 left after chapter 1. Understandable). Its been a tough journey with my sudden inability to write and to all you haters who are like, "This is such bullsh*t" and "Wash is lame, Yorkalina for life!" You know what fight me.**

 **And once again, a special thanks to _SilverKnightja101_ for letting me use your OC, Roy, or Agent Illinois. It was difficult but fun to include him in the story, and I hope he's stood to your expectation and you were thoroughly enjoyed.**

 **Thanks you again and I appreciate the comments that I've received (especially from you _Iron-Ninja_ , who I'm sure needs to see a doctor or something.) Please let me know what you've thought of the journey thus far.**

 **I have a new problem now, I have this puzzle here, but can't seem to find the last piece. You'd think that an intelligent 19 year old guy such as myself, would have no problem figuring out a 200 piece puzzle of an Island meant for 10 years. Huh, Who would've thunk it.**


	19. Epilogue: Forever and Ever

**I finally found that missing piece. This is the complete puzzle. The Island.**

* * *

 _ **25 Years Later**_

The surge sent excruciating pain throughout her body. She felt like skin was being pulled apart from her body, even through her armor. She held back the urge to scream and cry from the pain of her traveled. One final bright light blinded her and explosive sound rang in her ear and she crashed into solid concrete. When she regained consciousness she found herself in an all to familiar setting. Blue Base. Desks and tables worn out, chairs scattered around, all still dirty. Like it was before she left. Ever since recent attacks, most of the crew remained in the caves or in the underground complex.

Emma looked all around the base for any signs but there weren't any. Everything was more or less exactly the same as it was when she left. She heard rapid footsteps approaching from the door way. She ran to it immediately for a sign of hope. When she arrived she came face with her old childhood friend, J.D. Twenty-four years old and sporting her Intruder armor, helmet clipped to her side.

"J.D.!" Emma remarked.

J.D. stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her, squeezing her in a tight hug. She had feared for the worst. She was gone for days. She wanted to tell her how much she missed her and how worried she was about her being gone. Emma already knew how worried she was. Finally after a minute Emma forced herself out of her iron hold.

"J.D. please tell me! Is... is my mom..." Emma started off with tears beginning to build in her eyes. "Is my dad?"

J.D. didn't give any kind of response. Just stared into her eyes with sadness. Emma's tears began to escape. She pushed her aside and ran to a Warthog, practically pushing Texas out of her way.

"EMMA!" Texas cried out but Emma was already at the vehicle. "EMMA WAIT!"

Emma leapt into the Warthog and revved up the engine, just as her uncle Michigan slammed his hands onto the hood, demanding to stop. "M, think this through. It'll only be worse."

Emma didn't stop to listen. She slammed her foot on the pedal and sped off out of the canyon. Michigan returned to J.D. Texas turned back to see the distraught J.D. watching in pain as Emma vanished through the tunnel leading outside the canyon.

"J.D. you were supposed to stop her." she said. J.D. broke into tears, knowing that she failed to keep her closest friend from running off. She hugged her father and cried from her failure. Michigan held her closely, comforting her and letting her pain stream by.

"Its okay. Its not your fault you did what you could." He comforted her.

Texas didn't say anymore. She leapt onto another Mongoose and sped off. She knew exactly where Emma was going.

* * *

Emma drove for miles and miles more until she finally made it to the dreaded Island. A place she swore to never visit again. She had to make sure. She slammed the breaks and the tires skirted until she came to a screeching halt. She leapt out of the vehicle and ran up the steps, past the entry, and bolted past the hundreds of fresh/dead/dying flowers, pictures and dog tags of the many fallen comrades. A Memorial.

She past all the memories of the fallen comrades until she finally arrived at the small chapel like room where she hoped where her parents were waiting. She found them. Their scorched and broken helmets found in the wreckage and their dog tags hanging from the makeshift cross. Just as it were. Nearly three years ago.

She collapsed to her knees and began to cry. It didn't work. Nothing she did worked, and nothing she would do to bring them back would ever work. She wailed out in agony, screaming with her face to the floor from her failure. They were still dead. Still gone. She started slamming her fist to the floor as she screamed. She stood up and started punching the walls. She punched and slammed the walls until they cracked and her bones broke. And she kept on punching. She could feel the blood inside her gloves.

Texas finally arrived just in time to the frightening sight. She ran at her and grabbed her to keep her from hurting herself anymore. She grabbed her arms to keep her steady, but Emma tried to fight back. She swung around trying to get her to stop and let go. She started screaming, "LET ME GO! LET ME GO!"

Texas finally managed to hold her still and wrapped her arms around her, holding her close. Emma finally surrendered in her aunties hold and cried into her breastplate. Texas held her closely, seeing the little memorial of her fallen friends, her family, she began to sob. She wanted to cry. But she stayed strong and held the tears back, for Emma's sake.

"It didn't work!" Emma finally managed to squeeze out from from her crying. "It didn't work! Damn it, it didn't f**king work! Nothing ever F**KING WORKED!"

Texas held on to her tighter as she cried louder, screaming into her, wailing into her chest. "Don't talk like that baby girl. You know your mom wouldn't like it." She said on the verge of breaking into tears.

"I know, auntie Texas. I just, I miss them so much!" She said and continued to cry.

Texas eyes watered and she too began to cry. "I know baby girl. I miss them too."

Emma, sobbed, wailed, and cried for weeks and weeks on end since the day her parents died three years ago. She dreamed that someday she would see her parents again alive and well. She dreamed that they could all return home safely together as a family. She knew deep in her shattered heart that they were gone. Forever and ever.


End file.
